Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (C) holds the hand of her younger son Kim Aris (R) after his arrival at Yangon airport yesterday.Photo: AFP

In an emotional moment at the Yangon airport, 10 days after her release from detention, Myanmar's Democracy leader Suu Kyi was reunited with her youngest son Kim Aris after a decade-long separation.
Kim Aris, 33, was finally granted a visa by the military regime after waiting for several weeks in neighbouring Thailand.
Just before walking into the airport terminal, the 65-year old Suu Kyi, who was released Nov 13 after more than seven years under house arrest, told reporters, "I am very happy."
Tears welled up in Suu Kyi's eyes when she first saw her son.
A smiling Suu Kyi slipped her arm around his waist as the two posed briefly for photographers and then they walked out of the airport holding hands.
On greeting his smiling and excited mother, Aris immediately took off his outer shirt to reveal the symbols of her now-disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party tattooed on his arm. Suu Kyi looked at it closely and smiled. The flag and symbol feature a fighting peacock and a star.
Through her lawyer Nyan Win, Suu Kyi thanked the authorities for issuing the visa to her son, who resides in Britain and last saw his mother in December 2000. He has repeatedly been denied visas ever since by the ruling junta.
Tuesday's reunion underlined the personal toll of the political campaign Aung San Suu Kyi has waged during the past two decades. During that period she was detained for 15 years and only rarely allowed visitors or communication with the outside world.
She has always been free to leave Myanmar, according to her lawyers, but chose to stay because she was afraid she would be denied re-entry.
Under house arrest, the democracy champion had no telephone or Internet access and only limited contact with the outside world. It has been about 10 years since she last saw Aris or her elder son, Alexander.
The daughter of Myanmar's assassinated independence hero General Aung San was released less than a week after the first election in 20 years, dismissed by many as a sham for cementing the military regime's grip on power.
When her freedom was granted, crowds of jubilant supporters gathered outside her home to glimpse the charismatic activist, seen by many as the best hope for democratic change after almost five decades of army rule.
Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her non-violent struggle for democracy, was first arrested in 1989 when Kim was 11 and elder son Alexander 16. She has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years.
In an interview last week with The Associated Press, Suu Kyi acknowledged that her years of political work had been difficult for her family.
"I knew there would be problems," she said of her mid-life decision to go into politics. "If you make the choice you have to be prepared to accept the consequences."
Suu Kyi, who was largely raised overseas, married the British academic Michael Aris and raised their two sons in England.
But in 1988, at age 43, she returned home to take care of her ailing mother as mass demonstrations were breaking out against military rule. She was quickly thrust into a leadership role, mainly because she was the daughter of Aung San, the country's martyred founding father.
Elder son Alexander accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on his mother's behalf in 1991 while she was serving an earlier term of house arrest and reportedly lives in the United States.
Michael Aris died of prostate cancer in 1999 at age 53, after having been denied visas to see his wife for the three years leading up to his death. Suu Kyi has never met her two grandchildren.
While her family supported her, she said her sons had suffered particularly badly.