On 14 February, South Korea and Cuba established diplomatic relations. On the 15th, I heard that the DPRK may have to discuss diplomatic issues with Japan. That's kind of interesting.
Some Western media said that the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba is a big victory, which will weaken the confidence of the DPRK.
I think the West is a bit of a sense of sowing discord, and Cuba has indeed established diplomatic relations with South Korea, but Cuba has not openly said that it will not have dealings with North Korea.
However, South Korea is designated by North Korea as the "number one enemy," and Cuba's behavior cannot be ruled out as a possibility that it will provoke North Korea.
Therefore, on February 15, North Korea's statement was a bit of a counterattack on the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba.
On February 15, the day after the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba, Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong responded positively to Fumio Kishida's desire to improve relations between Japan and North Korea.
Kim Yo-jong said that he is open to the future of DPRK-Japan relations, but it depends on what Japan does.
Kim Yo-jong also added that if Japan no longer publicly condemns North Korea's legitimate defense actions, then it is not impossible for Fumio Kishida to visit North Korea.
According to the interpretation of the outside media, Kim Yo-jong's remarks are responding to Japan, but it seems that he is taking the initiative to show goodwill to Japan.
Now South Korea is more worried about this. Once relations between Japan and the DPRK improve, the situation on the peninsula will have a great impact. To put it simply, in the event of a head-on conflict between the two Koreas, Japan will not help South Korea.
Although Japan and South Korea have reconciled, it is only superficial work in front of the United States. In private, Japan and South Korea still have their own careful thoughts and disagree with each other.
Japan's improvement of relations with North Korea may also be one of its careful considerations, that is, it does not want to help South Korea. As long as Japan and North Korea establish diplomatic relations and the situation on the peninsula escalates, the United States will not be able to ask Japan to help South Korea, after all, Japan and North Korea have already established diplomatic relations. I have to say, Japan is really high.
In addition, Japan has the advantage of establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea, because North Korea has nuclear weapons, and if Japan cooperates militarily with North Korea, then Japan may have a chance to get rid of the United States. Of course, the United States should not allow Japan to do this, after all, it is not in the interests of the United States.
In fact, the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the DPRK is a kind of "mutiny" for the United States. The United States finally made Japan and South Korea shake hands and make peace, but the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea broke all this. This is a situation that the United States does not want to see.
So, I don't think it's very likely that North Korea and Japan will have full diplomatic relations, because the United States will not agree to Japan doing so. However, in order to ease the relations between the two countries, North Korea and Japan began to choose to cooperate with each other economically, and it is still possible. Doing so can be regarded as a counterattack to the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba.