The U.S. government said on Wednesday that it "respects" South Korea’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. 

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told KBS that South Korea has the sovereignty to determine the nature of its diplomatic relations, and the U.S. respects it, adding the South Korea-U.S. alliance remains ironclad. 

However, the spokesperson offered no words of congratulations for Seoul’s move to improve relations with Cuba, the only country in Latin America with which it had no diplomatic relations.

The U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961, and restored them in July 2015 under the Barack Obama administration.

However, the Trump administration reversed the progress in bilateral relations by banning Americans from visiting Cuba, designating Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, and imposing economic sanctions.

Under the Biden administration, relations have been restored partially with the resumption of flight operations, but have not been fully restored as economic sanctions remain in place.