Hong Kong  - Myanmar's consulate in Hong Kong on Friday posted a mocking online message suggesting the US national caught visiting detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi might have been a "boy friend."

The message, headed Secret Agent or Boy Friend?, was posted on the consulate's website and signed by the consulate general of the Union of Myanmar.

"Dear readers," it said. "Some of our friends inquired about an American, who swam into the Inya Lake, who secretly visited Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's house. Their question is why he swam to her and what they discussed within his stay at her house.

"Dear friends. Frankly, we have no idea whether he is either secret agent or her boy friend at this moment. We shall try to learn it and tell you later."

The message was posted at a time when Suu Kyi is on trial at Yangon's Insein Prison over the mysterious visit by John Yettaw, who is accused of swimming across the lake May 3 to her house.

Suu Kyi's attorney said Yettaw was uninvited, but Sui Kyi was arrested for allegedly breaching the terms of her house arrest by allowing Yettaw to stay until May 6.

Her trial, which began Monday, has been condemned internationally as a ploy to keep the opposition leader detained. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been detained for 13 of the past 19 years, and her latest six years under detention is due to expire Wednesday.

It is not known who wrote the message about Suu Kyi on the consulate's website, but it was suspected to be the work of Myanmar's controversial consul general to Hong Kong, Ye Myint Aung.

Earlier this year, Ye Myint Aung sent out letters to fellow diplomats in the former British colony describing the boat people from the Rohingya ethnic minority attempting to flee Myanmar and denied citizenship there as being "ugly as ogres." (dpa)