“I have been criticized by some people for not taking part in peace talks regarding the Kachin conflict. I have always said I am willing to take part in the peace process if the concerned parties wanted me to,” said Suu Kyi, according to an AP article.

Suu Kyi has said little about the Kachin conflict since fighting began on June 9, 2011. The reluctance of the NLD leader and colleagues to condemn numerous alleged army abuses against Kachin civilians has left many Kachin disillusioned.

Kenneth Roth, the executive director for Human Rights Watch, blasted Suu Kyi and the NLD in an essay written last month for not doing more about increasingly bloody conflict in Kachin state.  According to Roth, both have “not pressed the military to curtail, let alone prosecute, war crimes being committed against the ethnic Kachin population as part of continuing counterinsurgency operations in the north.”

Suu Kyi's video message indicating her willingness to participate in talks is a shift from previous statements made last year when she said she would only take part if the government specifically invited her. It still remains to be seen if Burma's internationally renowned dissident turned opposition leader will actually participate in the next round of peace talks scheduled to take place at the end of the month.

Earlier this month Chinese government officials attended the last meeting between the KIO and Union-level peace team in the Yunnan border town of Ruili. While the NLD was absent from the talks representatives of the Karen National Union (KNU), the Shan State Army-South and Myanmar Egress; a self-described civil society organization, attended the meeting. Harn Yawnghwe, head of the Euro Burma Office and the youngest son of Burma's first President was also in attendance.

Suu Kyi’s video speech coincided with Union Day; a national holiday in Burma which commemorates a 1947 agreement General Aung San reached with leaders from Burma's Kachin, Chin and Shan ethnic communities.

The Panglong Agreement promised Burma's ethnic nationalities a fair amount of autonomy over their own affairs in exchange for their support for Aung San's (Suu Kyi’s late father) efforts to secure Burma's independence. But the agreement was never fully realized after Aung San and entire cabinet were gunned down shortly after. Burma’s first Prime Minister U Nu never granted autonomy to the ethnic communities.

Since a 17 year cease-fire between Burma's government and the KIO unraveled 19 months ago, the KIO has repeatedly asked to have political talks with the government within the terms defined in the Panglong Agreement.