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| North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel attend an art performance in Pyongyang on November 4. (File photo by=KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty Images) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] According to state media Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un emphasized the country's "special" strategic relations with Cuba in another message congratulating President Miguel Diaz-Canel on his election as the new powerful head of its ruling communist party.
The statement delivered Tuesday via the Cuban ambassador in Pyongyang came a day after Kim sent another message expressing "absolute support" to Diaz-Canel following his appointment as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. Kim also sent a Workers' Party official, Kim Song-Nam, to pay a congratulatory visit to the Cuban Embassy in Pyongyang to "courteously convey the words of congratulations" to Diaz-Canel via Cuban Ambassador Jesus De Los Angeles Aise Sotolongo, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
The message stated that Kim said he will always join hands with Diaz-Canel against challenges by hostile forces and stressed his will to further develop "special comradely relations and strategic relations with Cuba on a new high level as required by the new era." Pyongyang has been seeking to maintain closer ties with its traditional allies amid an impasse in nuclear negotiations with Washington. Last month, Kim sent several verbal messages to the leaders of China, Cuba, Vietnam and Laos.
