South Korea establishes diplomatic ties with Cuba, North Korea's Cold War-era allies

The South Korean foreign ministry said that the country has established diplomatic relations with Cuba, one of North Korea’s Cold War-era allies.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ministry said that the two countries have agreed to open diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level with their United Nations representatives exchanging letters in New York.

Cuba maintains close relations with North Korea, which began in 1960, with their common socialist ideology and enmity towards the United States serving to bind them together. Cuba has an embassy in Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called late Cuban leader Fidel Castro a “comrade-in-arms”, according to North Korean state media. North Korea observed three days of official mourning in 2016 when Castro died aged 90.

The new diplomatic ties between Seoul and Havana mark an “important turnaround” for South Korea in its efforts to strengthen its diplomacy in the Latin American region, the foreign ministry said in its statement.

With inputs from Reuters.