In early July, a top North Korean general, Kim Kyok Sik, visited Cuba and met with his island counterparts.
The Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma said he was also received by President Raul Castro, and the two had an ‘exchange about the historical ties that unite the two nations and the common will to continue strengthening them.’
The meetings were held behind closed doors, and there has been no detailed account of their discussions.
‘After this incident there should be renewed focus on North Korean-Cuban links,’ said Hugh Griffiths, an arms trafficking expert at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Griffiths said his institute told the U.N. this year that it had uncovered evidence of a flight from Cuba to North Korea that travelled via central Africa.
‘Given the history of North Korea, Cuban military cooperation and now this latest seizure, we find this flight more interesting,’ he said.