The government of South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol, a self-proclaimed conservative, announced Thursday that it had established diplomatic relations with Cuba’s Communist Party, ignoring Cuba’s close ties with North Korea, its long history of espionage, and its status as a United States. A designated state sponsor of terrorism and its deplorable human rights record.
Anonymous “high-ranking official” in Yun’s office Said The reporters said that allowing the Communist Party to have an official presence in Seoul through an embassy would deal a “considerable political and psychological blow” to North Korea. Indeed, Cuba has a long history of espionage for its communist allies, particularly Russia and China, posing a significant natural security threat to key U.S. allies.
Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs Said It was a plan to expand “economic” ties with Cuba, a chronically poor country thanks to half a century of dispossession by communist elites. Under President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s economy is in dire straits, according to a study published in September. 88 percent Many Cubans live below the poverty line. Rather than expanding the political rights of his own people and ending support for terrorism and other wrongdoing, Díaz-Canel seeks to protect the communist elite from the economy through medical slavery, giving Russia and China more money. demands and unwittingly seduced Europeans and Canadians. tourist. For ordinary Cubans, the regime offers little more than legalized euthanasia.
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “The establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean with no diplomatic relations, marks an important turning point in strengthening diplomacy with South America.” claimed on Thursday.
When you talk to people from the country, South Korea JoongAng Ilbo In the paper, an anonymous Foreign Ministry official made the bizarre claim that Cuba agreed to establish relations with South Korea in part because of “the general public’s affinity for Korean dramas and music.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-seok said on the record that the Yoon administration “wants to expand economic cooperation between the two countries and establish an institutional foundation to support the expansion of Korean companies.”
The Cuban government seemed less enthusiastic about development. It was published on the front page of the Communist Party newspaper. grandmother, but was only briefly discussed as part of a larger article on Cuban foreign policy. Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a dry statement confirming the establishment of diplomatic relations and plans to host mutual embassies.
“On February 14, 2024, diplomatic and consular relations between the Republic of Cuba and the Republic of Korea were established through the exchange of diplomatic notes between the permanent representatives of the two countries to the United Nations in New York,” the Cuban Ministry announced. announced. “The establishment of official relations between the two countries took place in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, the purposes and principles of international law, and in accordance with the spirit and norms established in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 18 April”, 1961.
In 1959, Cuba severed its previously established relationship with Seoul. Continue A violent coup that brought longtime dictator Fidel Castro to power. Castro’s government has long maintained friendly relations with North Korea, a communist state that regularly threatens to use nuclear weapons against South Korea.
The Yun official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. claimed The idea is that relations with Cuba will help South Korea isolate North Korea. It is noteworthy that North Korea did not specifically comment on the development at the time of reporting, and Cuba also did not mention a potential conflict with one of its closest allies in Asia. The development came shortly after communist dictator Kim Jong Un recognized South Korea as a country in January. This was an unprecedented development, as the Kim regime had always maintained that the Seoul government was a rogue secessionist and that South Korea was legitimately part of a unified nation. communist Korea.
In January, Kim Jong-un said, “The final conclusion drawn from the bitter history of inter-Korean relations is that we cannot walk together on the path of national restoration and reunification.” North Korea’s state-run media has begun referring to the country as “South Korea,” with its full name capitalized, similar to the “Republic of Korea,” rather than simply “South Korea.”
If Cuba establishes an embassy in Seoul, it could become an important spying base for North Korea. The Castro regime actively uses embassies to infiltrate the government and has built a reputation as one of the world’s most advanced espionage nations.
“Cuba is known to engage in sophisticated espionage operations around the world as an adjunct to the Soviet Union’s KGB and now the FSB,” said the human rights organization Center for a Free Cuba. warned In a letter to Congress in June, he said:
As the case of DIA agent Ana Belen Montez shows, espionage within the United States can have devastating effects. Havana’s support for Chinese intelligence is also not new. China has long benefited from Cuba’s espionage operations around the world, and when Russia withdrew after the collapse of the Soviet Union, China took over operations in Lourdes and Bejucar.
In 2015, when then-President Barack Obama allowed Cuba to open an embassy in Washington, Cuban-American lawmakers issued a statement saying such a facility posed a serious threat to national security. I warned you.
“We are well aware of the Castro regime’s efforts to use its own diplomats as agents for purposes of espionage against host countries,” the lawmakers wrote. “Allowing Cuba to open an embassy or consulate in Washington, D.C., would further open the door to espionage.”
In December, U.S. prosecutors indicted Victor Manuel Rocha, a longtime American diplomat and former ambassador to Bolivia, on charges of extensive spying for Cuba over his 40-year career.
“This action exposes one of the most extensive and long-lasting infiltrations of the U.S. government by foreign agents,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “We believe that Victor Manuel Rocha has represented the Cuban government for over 40 years and is seeking a position within the U.S. government that would give him access to non-public information and the ability to influence U.S. foreign policy. He claims to have acquired it.”
