A US senator who secured the release last year of an American jailed for swimming to the home of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi will return to Myanmar for talks with the junta, his office said Wednesday.
Democratic lawmaker Jim Webb, a strong supporter of engaging Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, also plans to visit South Korea and Thailand during his May 29-June 6 trip to Asia.
The visit "comes at a time of great unrest in the region following the North Korean torpedo attack on a South Korean vessel, violent protests in Thailand and provocations from the Burmese regime," his office said in a statement.
Webb became the first US official to meet the Myanmar junta's reclusive leader Than Shwe in August, when he won the release of American John Yettaw, an eccentric Vietnam War veteran who was sentenced to seven years' hard labour.
Yettaw, who suffers from epilepsy and diabetes, said he had intruded on Suu Kyi's house on a "mission from God" to warn about a vision that she would be assassinated, but his actions landed her with another 18 months' house arrest.
Webb met Suu Kyi during his last trip and urged the country's military rulers to free the detained opposition leader.
A Myanmar official said the Virginia senator -- who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs -- was likely to meet Suu Kyi again when he visits the country from June 3-5.
"He will meet government officials here and is also likely to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi again and also with her party's (former) senior members," said the official, who asked not to be named. "Daw" is a term of respect in Myanmar.
Before the announcement of Jim trip,Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will meet with leaders of Myanmar's junta to discuss energy cooperation and aid to the southeast Asian nation during a visit next week, a top diplomat said Wednesday.
During the June 2-3 visit, Wen will hold talks with reclusive junta chief General Than Shwe, Prime Minister Thein Sein and other top officials, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun told reporters.
"The two countries will sign a number of cooperation documents covering economy, trade, finance, energy, science and technology," Zhang said, without offering specifics.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was forcibly dissolved after refusing to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a political party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader.
Suu Kyi has been in jail or under house arrest for most of the past 20 years. The NLD won 1990 elections by a landslide but was prevented by the junta from taking power.
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