South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se kicked off his two-day visit to Cuba on Saturday in a bid to normalize relations between the two countries, marking the first time Seoul’s foreign minister has ever visited the South American country.
 

South Korea has yet to forge official diplomatic ties with Cuba and economic exchanges between the two have been small. Relations between the two countries were severed after former Cuban leader Fidel Castro overthrew then-leader Fulgencio Batista in a 1953-59 Cuban Revolution to establish a socialist government.

Seoul first officially offered to establish diplomatic relations with the country in 1997, followed by a visit to the country by Seoul’s then-director-general for North American affairs Yu Myung-hwan, who later become foreign affairs minister. The state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency opened its office in Havana 2005.

Experts said a diplomatic relationship between the two countries is expected to apply symbolic pressure to North Korea, which has been stepping up belligerence against the South via its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

“There have been various efforts to improve relations between South Korea and Cuba since the Park Geun-hye administration kicked off. My visit symbolizes that (effort) and I believe it will become a milestone (in the two country’s relations)” Yun said.

Cuba has held close diplomatic relations with North Korea since 1960, with both sides maintaining embassies in each other’s capital.

Iconic Cuban political figures like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara visited North Korea in 1986 and 1960, with the pair emphasizing their ties with Pyongyang’s founder Kim Il-sung. In 2013, a North Korean cargo ship carrying weapons from Cuba was caught travelling via the Panama Canal, although visiting Cuban officials last year declined to comment on whether the country is continuing military cooperation with Pyongyang.

In Cuba, the South Korean minister attended a summit of the Association of Caribbean States, during which he was slated to hold meetings with some of his counterparts from participating nations. The summit is the first multinational event held in Cuba since it normalized relations with the U.S. last year.

Yun said his visit is part of South Korea’s efforts to strengthen diplomatic ties with Latin American countries. He added that South Korea can cooperate in several fields that will be discussed during the summit, such as sustainable development, climate change, developing tourism infrastructure.

Yun’s trip to Cuba follows President Park’s visit to Uganda last week in what was underscored by government officials here as part of Seoul’s efforts to further isolate Pyongyang in the international community. Uganda vowed to suspend its security and military cooperation with the North last month, although it later clarified its position and said this did not mean severing all diplomatic relations with the hermit kingdom.

A government source said the minister requested the ACS member states’ cooperation in coping with the issue of North Korea’s nuclear program.

“Even if it’s not spoken aloud, we all know that the (Cuba) visit is in line with Seoul’s effort to pressure North Korea with diplomatic moves,” the source said, while speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

Experts believe that the bridge-building efforts between Seoul and Havana -- one of few countries with relatively friendly relationship with Pyongyang -- could deal a symbolic blow to North Korea.

Pyongyang has been becoming increasingly isolated with the March implementation of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2270 encompassing the strongest economic sanctions against it to date. The sanctions follow the North’s Jan. 6 nuclear testing and Feb. 7 long-range rocket test.

“Mending ties between Seoul and Havana will have an impact on Pyongyang. Although the trade between North Korea and Cuba is not large, it will have psychological pressure on Kim Jong-un regime,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies from Dongguk University.

In February last year, Yun had said during a National Assembly session that he would seek to normalize relations with Cuba. In July the same year, he had said the government has been making various efforts for the past year in regard to forging diplomatic ties with Cuba, with “great interest.”

In his landmark visit, Yun said that one of the projects keenly promoted by Cuba in hosting the ACS summit was its effort to deal with the erosion of beaches and that he was reviewing ways for South Korea to contribute.

A vice minister and officials of lower levels from South Korea have visited Cuba since diplomatic exchanges were cut off in 1959 after the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro.

By Yoon Min-sik and Joint Press Corps (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)