Obama praises Myanmar reform but wants more

BANGKOK, Thailand - US President Barack Obama said his visit to Myanmar on Monday, November 19, did not represent a premature endorsement of its government, but was designed to encourage more political reform.

Obama said Myanmar must do more to move towards genuine democracy but added: "There is an opportunity for us to encourage the better impulses inside the country."

"I think it is important to recognize this is not an endorsement of the Burmese (Myanmar) government," Obama said at a press conference Sunday, November 18, with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on the first leg of a three-nation Asian tour.

"This is an acknowledgement that there is a process under way, inside that country that... nobody foresaw."

"There is an articulated commitment to further political reform," Obama, adding however that no one was "under any illusion that Burma has arrived".

Obama is due to travel to Myanmar from Thailand on Monday for talks with President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Some human rights groups have questioned whether his visit to Myanmar is premature.-Rappler (November 18, 2012 9:04PM)