By Amy Glasrud
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – Aung San Suu Kyi met with a senior minister of the junta on Friday, after nearly two months of no contact.  According to the Associated Press, an official said “a government-appointed liaison official, Aung Kyi, met with Suu Kyi for about an hour.”  It is unknown what was discussed at this meeting.  An NLD spokesman Nyan Win stated “that the more they meet, the better for the country.”  Reuters reported that “witnesses had seen a car leave Suu Kyi’s Yangon home, where she is under house arrest, and drive to a state guesthouse.”

The last time Suu Kyi had met with the junta was November 19th, 2007, when Suu Kyi met with regime leader Senior General Than Shwe, and it is speculated that they spoke about the junta’s preconditions for negotiations between the two parties.  Reuters stated that Than Shwe has repeatedly insisted the only path to political reform is via the junta’s own “roadmap to democracy.”  It is uncertain just how much the junta will be willing to negotiate; many critics claim that they are unwilling to work outside their own framework.

According to the International Herald Tribune, western governments and the United Nations have pressed the military to open a sustained dialogue with Suu Kyi in order to bring about democratic reforms.  Moreover, Yahoo News reported that “in December, US President George W. Bush threatened to spearhead a global campaign to step up sanctions against the country if it continued to ignore calls for a democratic transition.”  However the regime has allowed for a UN rights investigator and a UN special envoy to enter the country, but the junta has yet to make many changes.

According to Nicholas Burns of the Washington Post, the leaders of Myanmar (formally known has Burma) and their “policies are the greatest threat to Burma’s unity, stability, and prosperity.”

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune – Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets with junta – 12 January 2008

Associated Press – Myanmar’s Suu Kyi meets with junta – 11 January 2008

International Herald Tribune – Aung San Suu Kyi meets with junta representative in Myanmar – 11 January 2008

Reuters – Detained Suu Kyi meets Myanmar junta minister – 11 January 2008

Yahoo News – Aung San Suu Kyi meets Myanmar junta official – 11 January 2008

Pakistan President Musharraf refused to permit a U.N. inquiry into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.  The inquiry was requested by members of Bhutto’s party.  President Musharraf argues that Pakistan’s institutions are well equipped to handle the investigation into last month’s assassination alone.

President Musharraf also denies allegations that his country is about to disintegrate.  He claims that Pakistan will be able to withstand internal tensions, as well as external pressures exerted by al Qaeda and the United States.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Pakistan’s Musharraf rejects UN inquiry on Bhutto – 11 January 2008

Al Jazeera – Bhutto’s son calls for UN inquiry – 8 January 2008

By Juliana Chan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The Tamil Tigers’ intelligence chief was among the 34 rebels killed in northern Sri Lanka on Saturday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they lost the head of an intelligence unit, Shanmuganathan Ravishankar, when a military unit infiltrated rebel territory and planted a roadside bomb.

Sri Lankan officials have denied carrying out attacks inside Tiger territory.

The intelligence chief’s death comes just days after President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government announced that it was formally canceling a 2002 truce agreement made with the LTTE. Analysts expect this to lead to intensified fighting between the two sides. There has already been increased exchanges of fire in the region since the truce was canceled.

The Tamils have been fighting since 1972 for an independent homeland in Sri Lanka’s north and east.

According to government figures, 74 rebels and three soldiers have been killed in fighting since the beginning of the year, while tens of thousands of people have died since the conflict erupted in 1972.

For more information, please see:

The New York Times (Reuters) – Sri Lanka Says Kills Tiger Intelligence Head – 6 January 2008

Bloomberg – Sri Lankan Army Advances in Jaffna After Rebel Commander Killed– 7 January 2008

BBC – Tamil intelligence chief killed – 6 January 2008

BEIJING, China – China has announced that it will ban Internet video Web sites that are not run by the government, further tightening its grip on the Internet.

China already outlaws criticism of the state. Starting January 31, only state-owned or state-controlled companies can apply for a government permit for Internet broadcasting licenses to use video programming or allow users to upload videos.

The new regulations state: “Those who provide Internet video services should insist on serving the people, serve socialism…and abide by the moral code of socialism.” Websites will not be allowed “to offer material that promotes sex, violence, gambling, religious cults or reveals state secrets,” and providers are required to report questionable content to the government.

These new rules mark a fresh attempt by the Chinese government to limit the internet habits of its increasingly web-savvy population. For decades, officials have been able to ensure that traditional media, including television and newspapers, conform to what they believe Chinese people should know.

China is the world’s second-largest Internet market by users. It already blocks sites such as Amnesty International, and limits the scope of the Google Inc. search engine to exclude anti-government sites on its pages in China.

The status of sites such as YouTube, a popular video-sharing site, remains in question. Few analysts, however, expect popular Chinese video-sharing sites to disappear after January 31.

For more information, please see:

ABC News (AP) – China Limits Providers of Internet Video – 3 January 2008

The New York Times – CHINA: Restrictions on Web Video and Audio – 4 January 2008

Forbes – China Clamps Down On Internet Video – 3 January 2008

By Juliana Chan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – Kim Woo-choong, 71, the founder and former chairman of the collapsed conglomerate Daewoo Group, was pardoned Monday under a traditional New Year amnesty. Mr. Kim was one of 75 people to receive a presidential pardon. Others, including businessmen and six death-row inmates, received reduced sentences or had suspended rights restored.

Daewoo, which was once the country’s second largest conglomerate, collapsed in the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis with over $80 billion in debt and leaving the South Korean government to spend over $32 billion to rescue its component companies. Mr. Kim fled the country in 1999 and has been accused of “ordering his executives to inflate the group’s assets between 1997 and 1998 to obtain bank loans.” He returned in 2005 from Vietnam “to make peace with his past.” He was arrested soon after landing.

Mr. Kim was convicted of accounting fraud that involved borrowing illegal loans from banks, as well as smuggling funds overseas. He was sentenced to prison for eight and a half years in 2006 for embezzlement and accounting fraud. One month later, however, the court suspended the sentence because of Mr. Kim’s health issues.

The justice ministry said Monday’s presidential amnesty pardoned 21 businessmen, two former spy chiefs convicted of illegal wiretapping of political and business leaders, and six death-row inmates who had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. South Korea has placed a moratorium on executions since the last hangings on December 30, 1997.

For more information, please see:

AFP – SKorea pardons tycoon over huge financial collapse: ministry – 31 December 2007

BBC News – South Korea pardons Daewoo boss – 31 December 2007

Financial Times – Korea pardons Daewoo fraudster – 1 January 2008