Myanmar's foreign minister has said pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi can be kept in detention legally until late 2009 and not until December this year as reported earlier, Singapore officials said July 22.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win was misunderstood by his nine counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations during a dinner conversation July 20, said a Foreign Ministry official.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo subsequently passed on Nyan Win's remarks to the media, which reported widely that a new glimmer of hope had been raised for Suu Kyi's early freedom.