Relationship dossier
Cuba
North Korea
Relationship assessment
Longstanding political friendship reinforced by high-level visits and official solidarity
Cuba toward North Korea
+40Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel visited Pyongyang in 2018 and met Kim Jong Un, demonstrating high-level Cuban engagement with North Korea. Cuban officials have also expressed political solidarity with the North Korean government.
North Korea toward Cuba
+40North Korean official Kim Yong-nam visited Cuba in 2018 and met Cuban leaders, demonstrating high-level engagement with the Cuban government. North Korea has maintained official political ties and expressed solidarity with Cuba.
Overall relationship
+40The relationship is characterized by longstanding political friendship and reciprocal high-level engagement, including leadership visits in 2018. The available examples support a cooperative bilateral structure, while the scope of practical cooperation beyond political ties remains unclear.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Cuba and North Korea maintain a longstanding, politically close relationship, reinforced by high-level visits and official expressions of solidarity. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel visited Pyongyang in 2018 and met Kim Jong Un; North Korean official Kim Yong-nam visited Cuba that year. These ties are concrete, though the breadth and practical impact of bilateral cooperation are less clear.
Key developments
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel visited Pyongyang and met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korean official Kim Yong-nam visited Cuba and met Cuban leaders.
Major uncertainties
- The scope and implementation of bilateral economic and other cooperation are unclear.
- The extent of ongoing practical cooperation beyond high-level political engagement is uncertain.