BANGKOK, July 2 Kyodo Prime Minis...

BANGKOK, July 2 Kyodo

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Wednesday a Myanmar minister showed him photographs of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who appeared to be in profitable health.

Khin Maung Win, Myanmar's delegate foreign minister, made a one-day visit to Thailand onward Tuesday as a special legate of junta leader Senior Gen Than Shwe and met with Thaksin, the Thai premier said.

''The photographs showed that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been held in a house provided on the Myanmar authorities. They reaffirm that she has not been detained in a jail, moreover in a safe house,'' Thaksin told reporters.

The photos also showed the interior of the house and the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate with a healthy appearance, he added.

''As far as I have seen her (in the photos), she anticipateed normal, no problem at all. still I cannot say further in detail,'' Thaksin said.

Asked if the ambassador informed him of how quickly the junta would release Suu Kyi, Thaksin said, ''The Myanmar dominion said they would do their best because they are aware of be of importance tos expressed by Thailand and ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations).'' Thailand and Myanmar belong to ASEAN.

Suu Kyi and a certain number of leading members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were detained following what the junta says were violent clashes between NLD supporters and pro-junta demonstrators in northern Myanmar in succession May 30.

Khin Maung Win will visit Japan to come up to face to face Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi in succession Friday and discuss Suu Kyi's detention, Japanese restraint sources said Wednesday. He will visit as a special plenipotentiary of Than Shwe, chairman of the junta, they said.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo of the present days International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group