In a dramatic escalation of Myanmar’s ongoing civil conflict, the country’s military government has officially designated the Karen National Union (KNU)—one of its oldest and most influential ethnic armed groups—as a terrorist organization. The move, announced on August 28 and 29, 2025, by the Counter-Terrorism Central Committee and the Home Affairs Ministry, criminalizes virtually any affiliation with the KNU, including contact by third parties. The declaration comes just four months ahead of national elections scheduled for December 28, which the KNU and other opposition groups have vowed to obstruct, denouncing the polls as a sham designed to prolong military rule.
The military government’s announcements, broadcast on state-run television and published in the official gazette, accused the KNU of a litany of offenses: causing grave threats to public safety, bombing civilians, damaging infrastructure, destroying state-owned property, and forcibly recruiting members. The Home Affairs Ministry further charged that the KNU and anyone associated with it posed "serious threats to the rule of law […] as well as to the peace, stability and well-being of the state and its people." According to Nova News, General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the Armed Forces and interim president, has criminalized all contact with the KNU and its affiliated organizations, making any support or association a potentially severe offense under Myanmar’s tightened anti-terror laws.
The KNU’s response was swift and unyielding. Padoh Saw Taw Nee, a spokesperson for the group, dismissed the terrorist label, turning the accusation back on the military government. "With nothing more than full-blown lies, the thief is crying ‘stop thief!’" he said, according to The Irrawaddy. He further pointed out that international bodies—including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice—have issued arrest warrants or are preparing prosecutions against Myanmar’s military leaders, a fact he said "clearly shows who the real terrorists are, who the true international criminals are, and who the so-called ‘illegal association’ actually is."
The KNU, founded shortly after Burma’s independence from Britain in 1948, has long campaigned for greater autonomy for the Karen ethnic minority. Its struggle has persisted through decades of shifting political tides in Myanmar. After the 1962 coup by General Ne Win, the KNU was previously labeled unlawful, a designation that was only lifted in 2015 by the quasi-civilian government led by Thein Sein as part of broader peace efforts. The group signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement on October 15, 2015, but resumed armed resistance following the military’s 2021 coup, which it claims invalidated the ceasefire.
Recent months have seen the KNU make significant territorial gains, particularly along the Thai border and in the Kawkareik area of Karen State, where fierce fighting with junta forces continues. According to The Irrawaddy, these advances have heightened tensions and likely played a role in the government’s decision to issue the terrorist designation now. A resident of a KNU-controlled area in Mon State’s Thaton Township expressed deep concern to local media, fearing that, with the KNU now explicitly labeled as terrorist, the military will escalate its attacks on civilians.
The timing of the terrorist designation is widely seen as political. The KNU—and a coalition of other ethnic armed groups—have publicly rejected the legitimacy of the upcoming December elections, which the military government is pushing as a means to restore order and legitimacy after the 2021 coup. Critics, including international organizations and exiled pro-democracy leaders, argue that the elections are designed to cement military rule while nullifying the popular will previously expressed through the now-dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The KNU’s Padoh Saw Thamein Tun was blunt in his assessment, stating, "We are not wrong about our position on the junta election. Now they respond with these labels because they weren’t happy with that." He added that the planned election would not even be valid under the military’s own 2008 Constitution.
Since the 2021 coup, Myanmar has been plunged into a state of near-constant unrest. The KNU, along with other ethnic armed groups and newly formed resistance forces such as the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), has refused to participate in peace negotiations with the junta. Instead, these groups have ramped up military training for young civilians and intensified guerrilla attacks against government positions. The military, for its part, has responded by broadening its list of designated terrorist organizations, recently adding the Brotherhood Alliance—which includes the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and Arakan Army (AA)—and the PDF to its blacklist.
Despite the mounting risks, the KNU remains defiant. As reported by Devdiscourse, Padoh Saw Taw Nee underscored the group’s determination to continue its resistance. He dismissed the terrorist label as a transparent attempt to delegitimize the opposition and stifle dissent ahead of the elections. The KNU’s long-standing refusal to engage in what it sees as a rigged political process has only hardened in the face of the junta’s latest crackdown.
The government’s new laws threaten severe penalties for anyone opposing the December elections or maintaining ties with the KNU. This legal onslaught, coupled with the terrorist designation, is meant to isolate the group both domestically and internationally. Yet, as history shows, such measures rarely succeed in silencing Myanmar’s ethnic armed organizations for long. The KNU’s struggle for autonomy has survived waves of repression, shifting alliances, and broken ceasefires for over seven decades.
Opponents of the military regime, both within Myanmar and abroad, have condemned the terrorist designation as another step in the junta’s campaign to delegitimize all forms of resistance and consolidate its power. International organizations and human rights groups warn that labeling the KNU as terrorist could further endanger civilians in conflict areas and complicate humanitarian access, particularly as fighting intensifies in Karen State and along the Thai border.
As the December 28 elections approach, the stakes for Myanmar’s future could not be higher. The military’s efforts to criminalize the opposition and frame its critics as terrorists are likely to deepen the country’s divisions and prolong the conflict. For the Karen National Union and the communities it represents, the struggle for autonomy and recognition continues—now under the shadow of a new and dangerous label.
With Myanmar’s political crisis showing no sign of abating, the world will be watching closely to see whether the junta’s latest gambit succeeds—or whether it only fuels further resistance in a country already scarred by decades of war and repression.