AREQUIPA, Peru – North Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced Thursday the appointment of a new ambassador to Cuba.
A agency report Yonhap News reports that Han Su-chol was appointed as North Korean ambassador to Havana, several months after former ambassador Ma Chol-su returned home.
Last March, Ma Chol-su left the island after the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and the Caribbean country.
The note notes that Han Su-chol appears to be the deputy director of the international department of the ruling Workers’ Party (WPK), whose name began appearing in North Korean state media starting in 2022.
In recent months, Pyongyang has shown its discontent regarding the establishment of diplomatic ties between Seoul and Havana, avoiding mentioning the Island in the reports of the Rodong SinmunNorth Korea’s main newspaper.
On July 16, it also emerged that the senior diplomat North Korean stationed in Cuba, Ri Il-kyu, defected with his wife and son to South Korea in November 2023.
The event marked the highest-ranking defection of a North Korean diplomat to the South since 2016.
Ri Il-kyu, 52, had been a counselor at the North Korean embassy in Havana since 2019 and his role was to “obstruct the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba,” the diplomat revealed to the South Korean newspaper. Chosun. Yonhap news agency also confirmed the defection, citing an unnamed government source.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which is responsible for inter-Korean affairs, declined to comment on the case, citing privacy concerns.
Details of North Korean defections often take months to emerge, as defectors must obtain approval from authorities and complete an education course on society and systems. South Korea.
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