Prior to the Tatmadaw’s illegitimate takeover of the elected government on February 1, 2021, South Korea and Myanmar had seen growing connections in various civil and governmental sectors, ranging from infrastructure to cultural exchange. One notable area of cooperation has been the Shwe Natural Gas Project, a large-scale natural gas extraction project in the Bay of Bengal. A consortium of six companies runs the project, two of which are South Korean private and public enterprises, POSCO International and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), which hold 51 percent and 8.5 percent of the consortium’s share, respectively. The Shwe gas field project posted sales of over $600 million in 2020.
