YANGON, Myanmar, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi predicted the country would have democratic elections in her lifetime but didn't say when or whether she would run.
In an interview with the BBC, Suu Kyi also said political prisoners -- officials deny they exist in the country -- must be freed.
She is to meet with British Foreign Secretary William Hague when he visits Myanmar, becoming the first U.K. foreign secretary to do so since 1955.
Other officials have come to the country since its first elections in two decades ended military rule, and the country now has a "nominally civilian" government, the BBC says.
Suu Kyi, 66, said she expects "full democratic elections in my lifetime."
"But then, of course, I don't know how long I'm going to live -- but if I live a normal lifespan, yes," she said.
Suu Kyi registered her National League for Democracy as a political party last month and authorities approved it Thursday. She had boycotted the 2010 elections because of electoral laws that prevented her from participating.
Suu Kyi called President Thein Sein, a former top general who resigned to run in elections as a civilian, an "honest man" she trusts but said, "I can't yet trust the government for the simple reason that I don't yet know all the members of government."
Suu Kyi called for the release of all political prisoners in Myanmar, where 600 to 1,000 journalists, dissidents and monks who led anti-government protests in 2007 are thought to remain imprisoned, the BBC said.
