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“We are built together in Christ Jesus.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 14th that Korea has established diplomatic relations with Cuba, the only country in the Caribbean region of Central and South America without diplomatic relations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on this day in New York that they had agreed to establish ambassador-level diplomatic relations between the two countries through the exchange of diplomatic notes between the UN missions of the two countries.
Cuba became Korea’s 193rd country with diplomatic relations. As a result, only one country remains Syria, among the UN member states that do not have diplomatic relations with Korea. According to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before the coronavirus, about 14,000 citizens visited Cuba annually.
Historically, it is known that about 1,100 Korean descendants who immigrated from Mexico to Cuba during the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1921 live there. Then, Cuba recognized the Republic of Korea in 1949, but relations between the two countries were cut off after Cuba’s socialist revolution in 1959.
In 1959, Fidel Castro, who led a guerrilla army, overthrew the previous ruler, Fulgencio Batista, and the implementation of communism provided free education and medical care, but the economy collapsed, and poverty spread throughout Cuba. According to the Cuban Human Rights Foundation, the number of human rights activists arbitrarily detained in 2013 exceeded 6,000, freedom of expression disappeared, and the state owned all official media.
Since the Cuban regime passed from Fidel Castro to his younger brother Raul Castro in 2008, several reform policies have been implemented, the scope for Cubans to travel abroad has expanded, and some self-employment has been legalized. Cuba, a communist country, is called North Korea’s ‘brother country’ and has never established formal diplomatic relations with South Korea.
On the 14th, Yonhap News quoted a high-ranking government official saying, “Cuba was thirsty for economic cooperation and cultural exchanges with South Korea,” and added, “The reason it made the announcement so quickly without informing North Korea, which had hindered diplomatic relations for decades, is that Cuba government seemed to be eagerly wanting to establish diplomatic relations with South Korea.”
Meanwhile, Cuba has been expanding exchanges with the outside world by severing 53 years of Cold War relations with the United States, which is only 145km away by sea, on December 18 last year and normalizing diplomatic relations again. This is considered to be the end of the Cold War in the Americas after half a century. Accordingly, Cuba is anticipated to face a new turning point from a mission perspective.
The U.S. CBN News reported in early December that about 4,800 people accepted Jesus Christ through a missionary trip to Cuba by U.S. Baptist missionaries. Cuba, with a population of 11 million, ranked 27th in Open Doors’ World Christian Persecution Ranking (WWL) as of 2023. (Source: Gospel Prayer Newspaper Comprehensive)
For through him, we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:18, 21-22)
God, we thank You for opening doors to spread the gospel to Cuba by establishing diplomatic relations between Cuba and South Korea. Please help the churches of all nations to work together, using these opportunities for the mission revival in Cuba so that many Cubans will be saved. We give thanks and praise to You as You brought reconciliation between the two countries to become one in Christ through the cross and building them together into a temple where God will dwell.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
