Japan expressed deep concern on Tuesday [29 November] over the Myanmar [Burmese] junta’s decision to extend pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest for another year.

“Japan is deeply concerned about the continuation of the detention under house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after the extended term of one year ended on 27 November,” Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Yoshinori Katori said in a statement released Tuesday.

Katori said Japan “strongly hopes” the Myanmar government will “expedite the democratization process including the early release” of Suu Kyi.

Myanmar’s main opposition National League for Democracy confirmed on Monday that the military government extended on Sunday the arrest of Suu Kyi, the party’s general secretary, for another 12 months.

Suu Kyi was most recently detained 30 May 2003, following what the junta claimed were violent clashes between NLD supporters and pro-junta demonstrators in northern Myanmar.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi has spent more than 10 years under house arrest since her return to the country in 1988 after living abroad for nearly three decades.