Demonstrators gathered at South Korean embassies and offices of Daewoo International Corp around the world on Tuesday to demand the country stop all investment in the proposed project in military-ruled Burma’s Shwe gas fields.

Protestors claimed that the revenue from the project would only bolster the oppressive ruling junta and would do nothing to help impoverished Burmese people, as well as further damage the country’s already fragile environment.

The demonstrations were being held outside Daewoo International offices and South Korean embassies in the US, UK, Sweden, Japan, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Aung Marn Oo, director of the Shwe Gas Pipeline Campaign Committee (Thailand) told The Irrawaddy today that he and about 50 Burmese activists staged a demonstration outside the South Korean embassy in Bangkok, holding signs that read “Daewoo Out of Burma.”

According to Aung Marn Oo, the demonstration lasted 30 minutes and included the delivery of a letter to the embassy denouncing the Shwe project. The demonstrators were subsequently arrested. Some 17 of the group remain in custody.

“Despite economic sanctions imposed by the US and other western countries, the junta has been able to survive on the revenues derived from exporting the country’s inexhaustible natural resources…and offering slave or cheap labor to foreign companies,” the letter stated.

In Malaysia, over 100 people-including Burmese and Malaysian activists-staged a demonstration outside the South Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, according to Chang Lih Kang, the coordinator of SUARAM, a Malaysian Human Rights group based in the capital city and who participated in the demonstration.

Chang Lih Kang said that 82 of the demonstrators were arrested for staging an illegal gathering and for entering the country illegally. He added that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other NGOs in Kuala Lumpur were negotiating with authorities for their release.

Ko Khin, one of about 70 demonstrators in New Delhi, India said that Burmese and Indian activists organized a two-day seminar at the Gandhi Peace Foundation on the global campaign against the Shwe gas pipeline project.

“This [the Shwe pipeline] will only help support the military regime’s survival and lead to increased persecution of opposition groups, including the National League for Democracy and ethnic opposition groups, and the prospect for national reconciliation and democracy will be lost,” said Ko Khin.

“The Shwe gas project is a great threat to Burma’s rapidly degrading environment,” said Ka Hsaw Wa, executive director of Earth Rights International, a participant in the global campaign.

Daewoo holds a 60 percent stake in the Shwe gas field, located in the Bay of Bengal off Burma’s Arakan coast. It is expected to begin commercial production in 2010, at an estimated annual profit of US $106 million.

Korea Gas Corp and Gail India each hold a 10 percent stake, while India’s ONGC Videsh has an investment of 20 percent