The most senior US official to visit Myanmar for a decade and a half met democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling junta's premier today as Washington seeks a new era of engagement with the regime.

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marciel arrived in Myanmar yesterday to push forward the Obama administration's revised policy on Myanmar.

Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi was allowed a rare break from detention when she appeared with Campbell before the media at the US official's luxury hotel in the former capital Yangon, an AFP reporter saw.

Dressed in maroon traditional dress, the 64-year-old opposition leader smiled but said nothing to waiting reporters as she headed into the meeting in a hotel room.

Suu Kyi had her house arrest extended by another 18 months in August after a bizarre incident in which a US man swam uninvited to her lakeside home, effectively ruling her out of elections due in 2010.

Campbell and Marciel earlier today held talks with Prime Minister Thein Sein in the remote administrative capital Naypyidaw, Myanmar officials said on condition of anonymity.Details of the talks were not immediately available.