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South Korea opens embassy in Cuba nearly year after establishing diplomatic ties

Published: 19 Jan. 2025, 15:47

SEO JI-EUN
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From left: Lee Ho-yul, minister at the South Korean Embassy in Mexico; Lee Joo-il, director-general for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs at South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Carlos Pereira, director-general of director-general of the General Division of Bilateral Affairs at Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Ariel Lorenzo, director for Asia and Oceania at Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the opening ceremony of the South Korean Embassy in Havana, Cuba, on Jan. 17. [MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS]

South Korea officially opened its embassy in Cuba on Friday, 11 months after Seoul established diplomatic relations with Havana, a longstanding ally of Pyongyang.

Cuba became South Korea’s 193rd diplomatic partner, leaving Syria as the only United Nations member state without formal ties with Seoul, according to Seoul's Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

The embassy's opening ceremony was held in Havana’s Miramar district and attended by Lee Joo-il, the director-general for Latin American and Caribbean affairs at South Korea's Foreign Ministry, and Carlos Pereira, the director-general of the general division of bilateral affairs at Cuba's Foreign Ministry.

The embassy aims to enhance consular services for South Koreans living in or visiting Cuba while promoting economic and cultural exchanges between the two nations.

Lee Ho-yul, minister at the Embassy of Korea in Mexico, has been nominated as the first South Korean ambassador to Cuba.

Lee, who was also present at Friday's embassy opening, already received agrément, or the host country's consent, from the Cuban government and is expected to formally assume his duties soon, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

Cuba’s first ambassador to South Korea, Claudio Monzón Báez, presented his credentials to acting President Choi Sang-mok in Seoul on Jan. 7. Cuba plans to open its embassy in South Korea within the first half of this year.

Closer South Korea-Cuba ties are likely causing concern in Pyongyang, given its longstanding relationship with Havana based on their shared anti-Americanism and revolutionary socialism. Since the February 2024 announcement of diplomatic ties between Seoul and Havana, North Korean state media has visibly downplayed its relationship with Cuba.

For instance, on Jan. 1, North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency briefly reported on a New Year’s message from Kim Jong-un to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, where the message was unusually short and omitted previous references to the “brotherly Cuban people.”

South Korea was unaware of any negative reactions from North Korea regarding recent developments in South Korea-Cuba relations, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official told reporters on Jan. 13.

Despite the positive momentum, the budding relationship between South Korea and Cuba faces potential hurdles with the start of a second Trump administration in the United States. During Trump's first term, Cuba suffered severe hardships due to stringent sanctions coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marco Rubio, a vocal critic of Cuba’s communist regime and the son of Cuban immigrants, has been nominated as secretary of state in Trump’s second term. Rubio expressed concern over South Korea’s diplomatic ties with Cuba, calling them “deeply concerning” in a February 2024 interview with Voice of America, citing Cuba's "long history of assisting North Korean aggression."

Analysts believe Cuba’s decision to establish relations with South Korea was partly motivated by a desire to improve ties with the United States, a close ally of Seoul.

BY SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]