The Pass was the access route from Thailand used by the Japanese Fifteenth Army, consisting of two infantry divisions under Lieutenant General Shōjirō Iida, when it invaded the southern Burmese division of Tenasserim (now Mon State, Kayin State and Tanintharyi Region) in January 1942.

[2] During the Myanmar civil war that began in 2021, the battle of Kawkareik took place in late October 2022.

The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) stepped-up fighting in southeastern Myanmar and besieged the town.

At the time, it appeared to be a significant first seizure of a major town by anti-junta forces since the renewed civil war.

Kawkareik lies on the East-West Economic Corridor that links the South China Sea at Da Nang to Mawlamyine through Mae Sot and Myawaddy.