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| National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug presides over a plenary session of the National Assembly in Seoul, Friday. The Assembly passed a resolution to condemn Myanmar's military coup during the session. Courtesy of National Assembly |
By Jung Da-min
The National Assembly condemned Myanmar's military coup and urged the release of the country's leaders, who have been detained since the military took power in early February.
The resolution, passed during a plenary session Friday with bipartisan support from Assembly members, defined the military coup in Myanmar as a "serious act of defiance against democracy" and called for the restoration of democracy.
"Today's Myanmar, which formed a democratic government in 2015, sprouted from the noble sacrifices of numerous citizens who fought for democracy and reached a new turning point in history when the democratic government won a landslide victory in the 2020 general election," the resolution read.
"At this watershed moment, Myanmar's military has once again used violence to shatter hopes for democracy and threatened the lives of the people, brutally blocking democracy from reaching full fruition after 50 years of struggle, and seriously challenging it."
The resolution urges the immediate release of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's de facto leader, as well as all politicians and individuals detained during the coup, including President Win Myint and other members of Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).
It also calls for ensuring the safety of 3,500 Koreans in the country, urging an immediate halt to the use of violence against innocent citizens.
"The resolution holds significance in that the ruling and opposition parties of Korea spoke in one voice to call for the restoration of democratic order and the protection of human rights in Myanmar," according to a press release issued by the Assembly.
"The National Assembly will send the resolution to the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Myanmar, and remain committed to close cooperation with the international community for the restoration of constitutional order and democracy in Myanmar."
The NLD won two consecutive general elections ― one in 2015 and another in 2020 ― with the civilian government led by Suu Kyi gaining momentum to pursue democratization by amending the country's Constitution, which was created by the military in 2008.
But the military's commander-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, claimed widespread fraud in the outcome of the 2020 general election and declared a year-long state of emergency, after occupying the country's capital Nay Pyi Taw.
