Obama meets Aung San Suu Kyi at White House

US President Barack Obama speaks with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Sept 19, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday met with Myanmar's opposition leader and parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi at the White House.

Obama expressed his admiration for "her courage, determination and personal sacrifice in championing democracy and human rights over the years," said a White House statement.

Reaffirming his commitment to support reforms in Myanmar, Obama believed that the reconciliation and reform will offer the people of Myanmar an opportunity to "take charge of their destiny and to shape a more peaceful, free and prosperous future," according to the statement.

The deliberately low-key meeting lasted for about half an hour in the Oval Office. Photographers were briefly allowed in the private meeting, but television cameras and print reporters were excluded.

The encounter came after Suu Kyi was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, America's highest congressional honor, at the Capitol Hill earlier in the day.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Suu Kyi, who also spoke at the US Institute of Peace.

The Nobel laureate's 20-day US tour, her first in 24 years, was at the invitation of Clinton.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) overwhelmingly won the April 1 by-elections, taking 43 out of 45 open parliamentary seats, of which 37 with the House of Representatives or lower house.

Suu Kyi, 67, herself won a seat of House of Representatives with Yangon region's Kawhmu constituency.