‘Conservative’ South Korea Establishes Ties with Cuba, Throwing Communists a Critical Lifeline

The government of self-proclaimed conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol announced on Thursday that it had established diplomatic ties with the Communist Party of Cuba, disregarding Cuba’s close ties to North Korea, its long history of espionage, its status as a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism, and its deplorable human rights record.

An unnamed “senior official” in Yoon’s office told reporters that allowing the Communist Party a formal presence in Seoul via an embassy would deal “a considerable political and psychological blow” to North Korea. In reality, Cuba has a long history of spying for its communist allies, most prominently Russia and China, and presents a significant natural security threat to a top American ally.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said it was planning to expand “economic” links to Cuba, a chronically impoverished nation, thanks to half a century of plundering by its communist elite. Under figurehead “President” Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s economy has become so destitute that a study published in September found 88 percent of Cuban live under the poverty line. Rather than expanding the political rights of their people and ceasing its sponsorship of terrorism and other rogue behavior, Díaz-Canel has attempted to protect communist elites from the economy through medical slavery, demanding more money from Russia and China, and luring unwitting European and Canadian tourists. To normal Cubans, the regime has offered little more than legalized euthanasia.

“The establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, the only country in Central and South America and the Caribbean that we did not have ties with, is an important turning point in strengthening our diplomacy with South America,” the South Korean Foreign Ministry asserted on Thursday.

Speaking to the country’s Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper, an unnamed Foreign Ministry official made the bizarre claim that Cuba agreed to establish ties to South Korea in part because of “the general public’s affinity for Korean dramas and music.”

Lim Soo-suk, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on the record that the Yoon administration hopes to “establish an institutional foundation to expand economic cooperation between the two countries and support the advancement of Korean companies.”

The Cuban government appeared significantly less enthusiastic about the development. It appeared on the front page of the official newspaper of the Communist Party, Granma, but only in brief as part of a larger article on Cuban foreign policy. The Cuban External Relations Ministry issued a dry statement confirming the establishment of diplomatic ties and plans to host mutual embassies.

“On February 14, 2024, the diplomatic and consular relations between the Republic of Cuba and the Republic of Korea were established through an exchange of Diplomatic Notes between the Permanent Representations of both countries to the United Nations in New York,” the Cuban Ministry announced. “The establishment of official relations between the two countries was carried out in conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the International Law and in accordance with the spirit and norms established in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961.”

Cuba cut previously established ties with Seoul in 1959, following the violent coup that brought longtime dictator Fidel Castro to power. The Castro regime has long maintained friendly ties with North Korea, a communist state that regularly threatens to use nuclear weapons against South Korea.

Speaking to reporters anonymously, a Yoon official claimed that ties to Cuba would aid South Korea in isolating North Korea. Pyongyang has notably not commented on the development at press time, nor has Cuba addressed potential conflict with one of its closest Asian allies. The development shortly followed communist dictator Kim Jong-un’s recognition of South Korea as a country in January – an unprecedented development, as the Kim regime had always claimed the government in Seoul was a rogue separatist entity and South Korea was rightfully part of a unified, communist Korea.

“It is the final conclusion drawn from the bitter history of the inter-Korean relations that we cannot go along the road of national restoration and reunification together,” Kim Jong-un said in January. North Korean state media began referring to the country as “South Korea,” capitalizing its full name, as well as the “Republic of Korea,” rather than merely “south Korea.”

Cuba could prove a key espionage asset for North Korea if it establishes an embassy in Seoul. The Castro regime has built a reputation for being one of the world’s most advanced espionage powers, actively using embassies to infiltrate governments.

“Cuba is known to have engaged in sophisticated espionage throughout the world as an adjunct to the Soviet KGB and now the FSB,” the human rights institute Center for a Free Cuba warned in a letter to Congress in June:

It’s spying inside the United States, as the case of DIA’s Ana Belen Montes demonstrates, has had a destructive effect. Nor is Havana’s support of China’s intelligence operations new; China has long benefited from Cuban spy operations around the world, and China took over operations at Lourdes and Bejucal when the Russians left after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 2015, when then-President Barack Obama allowed Cuba to open an embassy in Washington, Cuban American congresspeople issued a statement warning that such a facility would pose a significant national security threat.

“We are all too familiar with the Castro regime’s efforts to utilize their diplomats as intelligence agents tasked with the goal of committing espionage against their host countries,” the lawmakers wrote. “Allowing Cuba to open an embassy in Washington, D.C. or consulates will further open the door for their espionage activities.”

In December, American prosecutors charged Victor Manuel Rocha, a longtime American diplomat who once served as ambassador to Bolivia, with spying extensively for Cuba throughout his 40-year career.

“This action exposes one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “We allege that for over 40 years, Victor Manuel Rocha served as an agent of the Cuban government and sought out and obtained positions within the United States government that would provide him with access to non-public information and the ability to affect U.S. foreign policy.”