THE IMAGE ON THE US EYE

Washington Post

The Obama administration is concerned that Burma is expanding its military relationship with North Korea and has launched an aggressive campaign to persuade Burma's junta to stop buying North Korean military technology, U.S. officials said.

Concerns about the relationship - which encompass the sale of small arms, missile components and, most worryingly, possible nuclear-weapons-related technology - helped prompt the Obama administration last October to end the Bush-era policy of isolating the military junta, said a senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

So far, senior U.S. officials have had four meetings with their counterparts from Burma, with a fifth one expected soon.

Criticism and questions have mounted from Congress and human rights organizations over the administration's new policy toward the Southeast Asian nation. California Democratic Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and generally a supporter of the administration's foreign policy, has recently called for the administration to increase the pressure on Burma, including tightening the sanctions that the United States has imposed on the regime.

"Recent events have raised the profile of humanitarian issues there," Berman said Friday, referring to a string of recent human rights violations.

Nevertheless, U.S. officials argue that talking with Burma still is the best way forward, given the concerns about Burma's deepening military relationship with North Korea. It is also important to keep talking with Burma, said Sen. James Webb, a Democrat from West Virginia, because China is more than willing to replace U.S. influence in Burma and throughout Southeast Asia. Webb's trip to Burma last August - the first by a member of Congress in a decade - has been credited with giving the Obama administration the political cover to open up talks with the junta.

Burma is believed to have started a military relationship with North Korea in 2007. But with the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution last June banning all weapons exports from North Korea, Burma has emerged "as a much bigger player than it was," the senior American official said.

In a report Albright co-wrote in January titled "Burma: A Nuclear Wannabe," he outlined the case for concern about Burma's relations with North Korea.

First, Burma has already signed a deal with Russia for the supply of a 10-megawatt thermal research reactor, although no construction of the research center had started as of September 2009. Second, the report said "there remain legitimate reasons to suspect the existence of undeclared nuclear activities in Myanmar, particularly in the context of North Korean cooperation."

Finally, the senior U.S. official noted that starting about eight years ago, a large number of Burmese students were going to Russia to study in nuclear-related fields. "It's not just dozens, it's hundreds," he said.