SEOUL -- South Korea established diplomatic relations with Cuba by exchanging official letters in New York, South Korea's foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The letters were exchanged between the missions of the two countries to the United Nations to set up their ambassador-level diplomatic ties, the Seoul ministry said.

The ministry said the established diplomatic relations were an important turning point for South Korea to strengthen and expand diplomacy in Latin America, noting that it would contribute to the expansion of substantial cooperation between the two countries.

About 14,000 South Koreans had annually visited Cuba before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trade between the countries amounted to $21 million in 2022.

Cuba approved the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea, in 1949, but exchanges between the two countries had been cut off since Cuba's socialist revolution in 1959, according to Yonhap news agency.