And now she leaves

After 24 years of stubborn campaigning for democracy in Myanmar and a steely determination to stay inside the country despite official admonishments to leave, Aung San Suu Kyi will make her first foreign trip since 1988, visiting Norway and Britain, the spokesman for her political party said on Wednesday. U Nyan Win, the spokesman, said the trip was a sign of confidence in the country’s political reforms. During her long campaign against military rule, in which she spent 15 years under house arrest, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was free to leave Myanmar. The generals ruling the country at the time would have liked nothing more. Her decision to stay, despite the deprivations of house arrest, has been one of the hallmarks of her political career. It is also what distinguishes her from other prominent political prisoners in the country, who did not have the option to leave. But at least not leaving when she had the option to do so worked, and I hope other repressive governments (including but not limited to the decadent Kim Jong-Un, who wasted money that could've fed much of the population for a year on a failed rocket launch) decide that continuing their reign of terror isn't worth it.