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| Kim Jong-un held talks with Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdes Mesa in Pyongyang. /Yonhap |
By Lee Jin-a
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un underscored the need to bolster the nation's relationship with Cuba during a meeting with Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdes Mesa, the North's state-run news agency said Thursday.
Mesa was visiting Pyongyang as a special envoy for Cuban President Raul Castro.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the meeting marked an important occasion in developing the relationship between the two countries and their ruling parties.
"North Korea and Cuba are geographically far apart, but the two states are in cooperation to fight against imperialism," the KCNA said. It said the meeting reconfirmed the long-standing alliance between Pyongyang and Havana.
South Korea said Friday the talks will not have a negative effect on the budding relationship between South Korea and the Caribbean state. Early last month, South Korea's foreign minister visited the country in a bid to mend diplomatic fences with Cuba, which will end up pushing the North into further isolation in the international community.
"This has nothing to do with the move under way to improve ties between South Korea and Cuba," a foreign ministry official was quoted as saying in a report. "It's just a separate matter. We know that the Cuban special envoy's visit to North Korea had been planned even before the South Korean foreign minister's trip to Cuba. The minister made the trip knowing that the Cuban delegation was planning to go to Pyongyang."
