The likeness and differences between N. Korea and Cuba

Ernest Hemingway, one of the greatest American writers, loved Cuba. Rumor has it that he was recruited by KGB as an agent, but it is hard to believe. He wrote his books while staying in Havana for seven years until 1960, a year before he committed suicide. He also frequented local cocktail bars in the evening. Every year, some 5,000 South Koreans visit Cuba, which has no diplomatic relationship with their country, in search of Hemingway`s traces and the romance of rum and salsa dance.

Raul Castro has been chairman of the State Council as the state head since 2008, taking over the position from his brother Fidel Castro, who led the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Cuba`s family rule resembles the three-generation hereditary dictatorship in North Korea. With no support from the Soviet Union after the Cold War`s end, both countries suffered from serious economic crises in the 1990s. However, Cuba clearly gave up nuclear weapons after the 1961 missile crisis, while the North is continuing its nuclear development.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un put a special emphasis on the Pyongyang-Havana ties at a meeting with Miguel Diaz-Canel, first vice-president of the Cuban State Council, who was visiting the North to mark the 55th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. Diaz-Canel, 55, is expected to take the chairmanship of the State Council in 2018 as Raul Castro`s successor, ending the Castro family`s long-term dictatorship. Kim`s first show of hospitality toward a foreign delegation in 26 months probably indicate his sense of diplomatic crisis, as Cuba has normalized its relationship with the United States for the first time in 54 years.

With the normalization of Washington-Havana relations, North Korea is now the only socialist state that does not have diplomatic ties with the U.S. Can North Korea be the next Cuba? The Diplomat, a U.S. magazine on diplomacy and security, said that North Korea is the second-biggest security threat after China to Washington`s Asia strategy because of Pyongyang`s hostility toward Seoul, a major U.S. ally. North Korea cannot go the way of Cuba until it gives up nuclear armament. After all, it is up to Kim Jong Un`s choice whether the North can break out of its diplomatic isolation.

shkwon@donga.com