Half of the diplomats at the Cuban Embassy in Seoul, which opened last year following the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba in 2024, have recently returned home, according to sources. Because the establishment of ties with Cuba, a traditional ally of North Korea, carried considerable symbolic weight in Seoul's diplomacy aimed at countering Pyongyang, attention is turning to why the mission cut staff little more than a year after opening.
Two Cuban diplomats posted to the embassy in Seoul recently returned to Cuba, diplomatic sources said on the 17th. The number of Cuban diplomats assigned to the mission has fallen to two from four.
The departures were not a routine rotation following the end of their terms but were carried out under instructions from Havana, according to the sources. The two Cuban diplomats remaining in Seoul are Ambassador Claudio Monzon and Counselor Patricia Flechilla Prometa.
The Cuban Embassy in Seoul officially opened on June 10 last year, about one year and four months after South Korea and Cuba abruptly established diplomatic relations in February 2024. At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the opening of the Cuban mission in Seoul, following the earlier opening of the South Korean embassy in Havana, showed that follow-up steps to the establishment of ties had been carried out successfully.
The establishment of relations carried particular symbolic weight as an expansion of South Korea's diplomatic reach, given that Cuba had maintained close relations with North Korea for decades after the two established ties in 1960. Since then, the two countries have opened resident missions and worked to expand cooperation in the economy and trade. As recently as three months ago, in June, the Cuban Embassy in Seoul hosted an event introducing investment and business opportunities in Cuba to South Korean companies, signaling an active push to broaden economic cooperation.
Some in diplomatic circles suggest the staffing change could amount to a tacit protest directed at Seoul. There are also concerns that friction in relations at such an early stage could set back South Korea's North Korea policy, which has sought to widen its diplomatic space by engaging Pyongyang's traditional allies.
The Cuban Embassy, however, dismissed any link between the personnel change and bilateral relations. In a written response to Seoul Economic Daily, the embassy said all administrative decisions at the embassy are internal in nature and have no political meaning or connection to bilateral relations whatsoever. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not been given a specific explanation from the Cuban side for the two departures, according to sources. The South Korean embassy in Havana currently maintains a staff of five and has no plans to change its staffing, sources said.
