S. Korea moving to establish diplomatic ties with Cuba

Foreign minister visits Cuba for 1st time

By Jun Ji-hye, Joint press corps

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se expressed South Korea’s willingness to improve bilateral ties with Cuba upon his arrival in the Caribbean state to attend a regional summit, Saturday.

The betterment of bilateral relations is expected to help Seoul increase pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Cuba has no formal diplomatic relations with South Korea, while having maintained close relations with the North.

“The government has made silent but various efforts to improve ties with Cuba,” Yun told Korean reporters at a hotel in Havana. “My visit symbolizes such efforts. I believe this visit will be an important milestone.”

Yun also said he expects Seoul and Havana to “have a good result” and “reach a goal” at some point by gradually building up mutual trust.

The remark was construed as referring to the two countries establishing formal diplomatic ties.

Yun is the nation’s first top diplomat to visit Cuba.

During his two-day stay, Yun attended the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) summit and held meetings with officials from the participating nations, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Seoul was invited as an observer country by the 20-member ACS, which was established in 1995.

Ties between Seoul and Havana were effectively severed in 1959 when Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro took power and forged an alliance with North Korea.

Yun’s visit was preceded by that of Second Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, who left for Cuba, Friday, to attend an ACS reception and official dinner arranged by Cuban President Raul Castro on behalf of the minister. At that time, Yun was accompanying President Park Geun-hye on her trip to Africa and France.

Yun flew to Cuba after Park wrapped up her visit to France.

Observers say it is rare for a minister and vice minister to attend the same event, noting that this showed Seoul’s aspiration to improve ties with Havana.

The government has cautiously increased non-political exchanges in culture, the economy and trade sectors with Cuba since the late 1990s in an effort to pave the way to normalize bilateral ties.

In February of last year, Minister Yun officially expressed the government’s willingness to improve ties during a session at the National Assembly.

Yun’s historic visit could be a crucial point for Seoul to extend relations to diplomatic ties with the Caribbean state, observers say.

They also noted that U.S.’s normalization of relations with Cuba after a 53-year estrangement, declared in 2014, has also affected Seoul’s move.

An improvement of ties with Cuba will be able to pressure the North further as the international isolation of the repressive state has already deepened since the United Nations Security Council imposed its harshest sanctions yet on the Kim Jong-un regime in early March over a nuclear test and ballistic missile launch, they said.

“Yun’s visit to Cuba is in line with the so-called network diplomacy toward Latin America,” the ministry said. “We expect that it will serve as an opportunity to build connectivity with Caribbean states, with which there have been few high-level talks.”