Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. State Department official Kurt Campbell became the most senior American emissary to visit Myanmar in 14 years today as the Obama administration aims to improve ties with the military junta.

Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, arrived today in the capital Naypyidaw, where he will meet senior government officials and stay overnight, Richard Mei, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Myanmar, said by phone. Tomorrow, Campbell will fly to the former capital Rangoon and meet with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, he said.

Campbell’s visit builds on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s policy announced in September of engaging directly with Myanmar’s military leaders to press for democracy. The policy supplements sanctions first imposed on the regime in 1997 and renewed for one year by U.S. President Barack Obama in May.

“It’s a follow-up to the meetings that got started in New York, so at a minimum he’s going to be seeing the same two senior leaders he met there before,” Mei said.

Campbell and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel met Sept. 29 in New York with a delegation headed by U Thaung, Myanmar’s minister for science and technology, and Than Swe, the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations. Marciel, who is also accompanying Campbell to Myanmar, plans to brief reporters about the trip in Bangkok on Nov. 5.

“The Americans are using whole new tactics,” said Aung Naing Oo, an independent political analyst in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “Both sides want to get the relationship back to normal, and the Americans understand they need to be patient.”

Asean Summit

Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein is expected to attend the U.S.-Asean summit on Nov. 15, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose country is hosting the meeting, said today. Suu Kyi will probably be discussed at the first-ever meeting between a U.S. president and leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he added.

“The U.S. has shifted its position and is now willing to engage Myanmar, and I think Myanmar is engaging,” Lee told reporters in Singapore. “Our view has always been that ostracizing Myanmar and cutting it off altogether is not a constructive way forward and unlikely to yield any results.”

Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, has spent 13 years in detention since her party won the country’s last elections in 1990, a result the military rejected. The junta extended her house arrest for 18 months in August after she was convicted of violating the terms of her detention, potentially excluding her from elections scheduled for next year.

North Korea

It would be a serious mistake to ease sanctions “without meaningful progress on the ground on our core concerns,” Campbell told a Congressional hearing on Oct. 21. Those include the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, an end to conflicts with ethnic groups and Myanmar’s “close military relationship with North Korea,” he said.

Clinton expressed concern in July about reports that North Korea and Myanmar were cooperating on nuclear technology. The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously in June to adopt a U.S.-backed resolution to punish North Korea.

Senator Jim Webb became the first senior U.S. official to meet with junta leader Senior General Than Shwe when the Virginia Democrat visited Myanmar in August. He secured the release of John Yettaw, whose uninvited swim across a lake to Suu Kyi’s house last May prompted the charges against the Nobel laureate.

Madeleine Albright traveled to Myanmar as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1995. President Bill Clinton sent two envoys a year later.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 3, 2009 02:56 EST