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N. Korean leader meets Cuban president in Pyongyang
SEOUL, Nov 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with
visiting Cuban president in Pyongyang and discussed “crucial issues of common
concern” on the current international situation, the North’s state media
reported Monday.
The visit by Miguel Diaz-Canel comes amid stalled talks between North Korea
and the United States and only days after Washington imposed fresh economic
restrictions on Cuba.
Washington’s ties with Havana were fully restored in 2015 after more than
half a century of enmity, but have deteriorated since President Donald Trump
took office.
Communist Cuba is one of North Korea’s few remaining allies.
“There was an in-depth exchange of views on the crucial issues of common
concern … on the international situation and a consensus of views on all
issues was reached,” said the official KCNA news agency.
Diaz-Canel was greeted by Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju at the Pyongyang
International Airport on Sunday, KCNA reported, where he was given a 21-gun
salute and later attended a banquet and enjoyed a special welcoming concert
with them.
Giving a toast at the banquet, Kim said his meeting with the Cuban leader
“marked a watershed in demonstrating the will to carry forward forever the
friendship between the two countries”.
In response, Diaz-Canel said he was willing to “meet all challenges by the
hostile forces” while carrying forward their “traditional friendly and
cooperative relations”, according to KCNA.
Diaz-Canel took office in April in a historic transition of power on the
Caribbean island, succeeding Raul Castro, who took over from his elder
brother Fidel, father of the 1959 revolution.
Fidel Castro visited North Korea in 1986 to meet founder-leader Kim Il-
Sung, and Pyongyang held three days of official mourning when Castro died in
November 2016.
North Korea sent a delegation led by Choe Ryong-Hae, a senior aide to its
leader Kim Jong Un, to Havana for Castro’s funeral.
Cuba in the past has flouted international sanctions imposed on North Korea
over its nuclear weapons programme.
In 2013 Panama seized a North Korean ship carrying an undeclared Cuban arms
shipment of Soviet-era weapons and fighter jets hidden under sacks of sugar.
North Korea insisted the weapons were being shipped for repair, prior to
their return.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1046 hrs