No joke
From Sir Philip Goodhart Sir: Your correspondent, Michael Vestey (Letters, 11 March), is wrong. Lee Bhum Suk was not a Burmese foreign minister; he was the South Korean foreign minister who was murdered in Burma in 1983.
In September 1983 the Inter-Parliamen- tary Union's annual conference was held in Seoul. As the foreign minister of the host country, Lee Bhum Suk gave a reception for the visiting members of parliament. I remember having a drink with him at that reception; he was a pleasant man who had a considerable reputation. On the following day he flew to Burma with the South Korean president. One of the principal ceremonial events of that state visit was the laying of a presidential wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Sol- dier. A North Korean terrorist gio u p deto- nated a bomb which had been hidden next to the tomb. Lee Bhum Suk and four of the president's senior aides were killed. Some of the group that murdered Lee Bhum Suk were arrested later. His name may sound comic — his murder was not.
Philip Goodhart 25 Abbotsbury Road, London W14
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