ROK

Diplomatic relations with Cuba established

The Republic of Korea established diplomatic relations with Cuba by exchanging official letters in New York, the ROK's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The letters were exchanged between the missions of the two countries to the United Nations to set up ambassador-level diplomatic ties, the Seoul ministry said. Cuba approved the ROK in 1949, but exchanges between the two countries had been cut off since Cuba's socialist revolution in 1959, Yonhap News Agency reported.

FRANCE

Sarkozy found guilty of illegal financing

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of illegal campaign financing by a Paris appeal court, which gave him a one-year prison sentence on Wednesday, half of which was suspended. The court found that Sarkozy spent 42.8 million euros ($45.9 million) for his presidential campaign in 2012, while the maximum amount allowed in France at the time was 22.5 million euros. Sarkozy will take the case to France's highest court, his lawyer told reporters.

DPRK

New surface-to-sea missile test-fired

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea test-fired the new-type surface-to-sea missile Padasuri-6 on Wednesday, with its top leader supervising the move, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday. The missile, which is to be equipped by the DPRK navy, flew over the waters off the country's east coast for more than 1,400 seconds before hitting the target boat. Top leader Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, set forth the ways for reliably defending the maritime border, the report said.