North Korea blames US for 'grave terrorist' act against Cuban embassy

On Sunday, North Korea accused the US of allowing a “terrorist” act against Cuba to take place on US soil, claiming that a recent attack on the Cuban embassy in Washington was the product of “despicable anti-Cuban” US aims.

The US failed to assure the safety of the Cuban mission and was solely interested in including nations it hates, such as Cuba, on its list of state supporters of terrorism, according to a spokesman for North Korea’s foreign ministry.

North Korea, Syria, and Iran are all on the State Department’s list.

On September 24, an attacker used two Molotov cocktails to assault the embassy. There were no injuries or serious damage.

The incident was “a grave terrorist attack”, the North Korean spokesman said, adding there was a pattern as it followed a 2020 incident at the same embassy in which someone fired a rifle at the building.

“This goes to prove that the above-said incidents were committed evidently at the tacit connivance of the US administration,” the unnamed spokesman said in the statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

US authorities arrested and indicted a man soon after the 2020 shooting.

The United States should “acknowledge the blame for not only the recent incident but also all the past terrorist cases and probe their truth to show its sincerity,” rather than focussing on naming countries as state sponsors of terrorism, he said.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States strongly condemned the attack and that US law enforcement authorities would investigate. No one was in custody as the investigation continued, the Secret Service has said.

The embassy reopened in 2015 when Cuba and the US restored diplomatic ties. Havana has said it is unreasonable for Washington to keep Cuba on its terrorism list and maintain a Cold War-era economic embargo.