Yoon unveils $23m humanitarian aid to Myanmar

VIENTIANE, Laos -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday unveiled plans to provide $23 million to Myanmar in humanitarian aid this year, as he attended the East Asia Summit before ending his Southeast Asia trip.

According to Yoon's office, the president said in the closed-door multilateral meeting that Myanmar could provide a proving ground for East Asia Summit members from across the Indo-Pacific region, saying their collaborative efforts and dialogue could contribute to tackling the humanitarian crisis in the country since the military coup in 2021.

Recognizing the need for multilateral cooperation, South Korea plans to increase the size of its humanitarian aid to Myanmar fourfold from the previous year, Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy director of the presidential National Security Office, said in a briefing.

Annual humanitarian aid to Myanmar amounted to $5.6 million in 2022 and $5.8 million in 2023.

This comes a few days after Yoon pledged to "proactively support" development cooperation projects that promote democracy in Indo-Pacific countries starting this year, at his 47th Singapore Lecture hosted by ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute on Wednesday.

Yoon during the meeting also stated that "illicit military cooperation" between Russia and North Korea is to blame for the long war in Ukraine, urging international solidarity to safeguard the rules-based international order.

He reaffirmed his bid for reconstruction projects in war-torn Ukraine through cooperation with the international community at the summit.

The East Asia Summit has 18 members, including the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations members, as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

Freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea must be protected according to international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Yoon added.

The presidential office said the inclusion of the 1982 UNCLOS in Yoon's remarks and joint declarations during his visits to the Philippines and Laos "should be seen separately" from a specific international arbitration tribunal's ruling on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, such as concerning the disputed Spratly Islands where the tribunal unanimously ruled in favor of the Philippines