Senior diplomats from South Korea and Cuba held talks Wednesday for the first time since the establishment of diplomatic relations earlier this year, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won held a one-on-one meeting with Carlos Pereira, director general for bilateral affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry, in Seoul, according to the ministry.

Upon arriving at the foreign ministry building, Pereira told reporters that the two sides would discuss issues concerning “bilateral relations.”

Pereira is in Seoul to attend a regional forum on cooperation between South Korea and Latin American countries. He is the first senior Cuban diplomat to visit South Korea since the formal diplomatic ties were forged in February.

Following the forum on Monday, Pereira told reporters that the opening of a Cuban embassy in Seoul could potentially occur as early as next month.

The Cuban official said the embassy would be opened “as soon as possible,” when asked by reporters on Wednesday about the
timing.

South Korea and Cuba have yet to finalize the location of the Cuban mission, according to Seoul officials. A Cuban diplomat from its embassy in China has been visiting Seoul since last month to facilitate the opening of the embassy.

Source: Yonhap News Agency