By Yi Whan-woo
North Korea will remain a stumbling block in South Korea’s efforts to open diplomatic relations with Cuba, according to experts Thursday.
They speculated Havana, one of Pyongyang’s few remaining Cold War allies, will eventually establish ties with Seoul, as it did with Washington, Wednesday, as part of its efforts to accelerate its economic reform.
However, it remains to be seen how effectively South Korea can break into the North Korea-Cuba alliance that has lasted from the reign of their two former dictators ― Kim Il-sung and Fidel Castro, analysts said.
“North Korea will use all possible means to prevent South Korea from setting up ties with Cuba, although it will be just a matter of time for the Seoul-Havana relationship to be realized,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
Chung Eun-sook, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute, agreed.
“It would be inappropriate to say Cuba will insist on maintaining its traditional alliance with North Korea over setting up ties with South Korea,” she said. “But North Korea can be a variable to some extent in South Korea’s move to establish relations with Cuba. I believe Pyongyang will try to delay such progress as much as possible.”
Chung pointed out that Kang Sok-ju, a veteran North Korean diplomat, visited Cuba last week. Kang’s move was seen as an attempt to reaffirm internationally isolated Pyongyang’s alliance with Havana.
Cuban President Raul Castro told Kang in their meeting that the ties between the two sides will “ceaselessly develop and go on to the next generations,” Pyongyang’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported June 29.
Raul, who succeeded his brother Fidel Castro in February 2008, also underscored the friendship between his brother and Kim Il-sung, the late grandfather of incumbent North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to the KNCA.
Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said South Korea should consider capitalizing on Washington’s ties with Havana to establish its relations.
He pointed out that the U.S. and Cuba reached a deal to set up their respective embassies in each other’s capital in their agreement, Wednesday.
“The North Korea-Cuba alliance is much stronger than what people expect,” he said.
“I’ve been told our government has sought to keep in touch with Cuba through its embassy in Mexico for the past few months and has not been successful.
“Once the U.S. Embassy is set up in Havana, we could get more information on Cuba and make better preparations to normalize bilateral relations,” Kim said.
Cuba is one of the four countries ― including Macedonia, Syria and Kosovo ― with which South Korea does not have diplomatic relations.
In February, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se vowed to push to normalize South Korea-Cuba relations to “broaden the country’s diplomatic horizons” to Central and South America.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, welcomed the restoration of U.S-Cuba ties.