At recent trials in Seoul, two Daewoo International executives and twelve other South Koreans were found guilty of arms exports to Burma, but were given only lenient sentences. (Click here for Associated Press coverage. [2]) Taeyoung Lee, former Daewoo International President was given a US$50,000 fine and it’s former Managing Director given a one-year suspended sentence.
In May 2002, Lee Tae-yong and representatives from six other South Korean corporations signed a US$ 133.8 million contract with the Burmese military regime. Between October 2002 and October 2006, nearly 480 pieces of equipment and parts were exported and used to build a weapons factory in Pyay, Burma. Korean law prohibits the unauthorized export of strategic materials to Burma.
"Although we welcome the verdict, such lenient sentencing will only invite similar corporate crimes in the future," says Kim of the Shwe Gas Movement in India. “These sentences should more closely reflect the seriousness of the crime. Burmese civilians struggling for democracy are being killed by weapons sold to the Burmese army.”
According to Wong Aung from the Shwe Gas Movement in Thailand, “Daewoo’s complicity doesn’t stop at weapons manufacturing. The company’s investment in Burma’s natural gas under the current regime will directly lead to deaths and displacement, regardless of any better intentions the company may have.”
Daewoo International is the main operator of the Shwe Natural Gas project in western Burma, projected to generate the regime US$12-17 billion over the next 20 years. The gas is planned for export to China through gas pipelines scheduled for construction in 2008. The construction of past gas pipelines in Burma by the US company Chevron – formerly Unocal - and France’s Total were allegedly connected to serious human rights abuses, including forced labor, displacement, rape, and murder, committed by the Burma Army, which secured the pipeline.
A growing number of investment funds are evaluating their financial holdings in Daewoo International and other oil and gas corporations for their operations in Burma. In late October, the Danish Pension Fund announced that it had divested its holdings in oil companies working in Burma.
International attention has been squarely focused on Burma since September, when the military regime opened fire on monk-led peaceful protestors who called for national reconciliation, the release of all political prisoners, and lower fuel prices. A 500 per cent increase in the price of natural gas was said to have sparked the protest.
“South Korea needs natural gas, but Daewoo International is risking further complicity in grave abuses for natural gas that will not even make it to South Korea. The company should suspend its involvement in the Shwe Gas Project until Burma is under a stable democratic government,” says Wong Aung.
The Shwe Gas Movement is a coalition of non-governmental organizations with offices in Thailand, India, and Bangladesh.
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RELATED NEWS - Bangkok Post Publishes ERI article on the politics of doing business in Burma: [3]
"The least thoughtful response to the ongoing crackdown in Burma came from Daewoo International of South Korea ... . When asked if the crisis in Burma would lead the company to reconsider its billion-dollar investment in the Shwe gas deposit, a Daewoo spokesman responded, 'Politics is politics. Business is business', implying that the business of oil and gas is apolitical."
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