by a Japanese news agency investigated the ship, they were detained. It is possible that the ship was visiting Myanmar in connection to the country's nuclear program. In 2008, the US blocked the flight of an Air Koryo Ilyushin Il-62 from a stopover in Mandalay in Myanmar to Iran, believing it was carrying gyroscopes for missile guidance systems. In January 2009, a weapons specialist from North Korean died in Myanmar while working on a secret project in Meiktila. His remains were quickly repatriated. In June that year, tensions mounted as a US navy ship followed a North Korean vessel near the port of Yangon. Myanmar is relying on North Korea for nuclear cooperation because it is worried about ties with Russia. In the eventuality that its relationship with Russia deteriorates, North Korea will remain an important ally in nuclear matters. China, friendly with both Myanmar and North Korea, has not commented negatively on the possible nuclear cooperation between the two states. With the 2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, military ties have been either downgraded or cut. In 2018, however, the UN found that North Korea is selling ballistic and surface-to-air missiles and other weapons to Myanmar through its weapons export arm Korea Mining and Development Trading Corporation. Myanmar and North Korea in Asia There is a North Korean embassy in Myanmar. Myanmar is one of the top-10 recipients of exports from North Korea. Myanmar–North Korea relations have affected Myanmar's relations with countries such as the United States and Japan. These countries have supported normalization of relations among themselves and Myanmar so as to deter North Korea from gaining an ally in Southeast Asia. Myanmar and North Korea are often compared to one another. Both neighbor China, both are heavily militarized societies with ongoing conflict, and with isolationist policies. In 2005, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice included both under the term "outposts of tyranny". Myanmar has, in the words of, Michael Green and Derek Mitchell "interest in following the model of North Korea and achieving military autarky by developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons". According to American historian David I. Steinberg, both countries share a trait of nationalism rooted in insecurity and vulnerability. This characteristics explain, for instance, why the two countries, at one point, decide to change their time-zones to deviate from the international norm by half an hour. See also Foreign relations of Myanmar Foreign relations of North Korea