Following decades of political and military ties, North Korea and Cuba appear to be taking starkly different paths as Washington seeks a long-delayed reconciliation with Havana while mulling putting Pyongyang back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Relations between North Korea and the U.S. are quickly plummeting in the aftermath of the communist country’s suspected hack on Sony Pictures, which led to the cancellation of the release of “The Interview,” a film about a plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he would “review” whether to relist Pyongyang as a state sponsor of terrorism, calling the massive attack “an act of cybervandalism” and vowing to “respond proportionally.”

“We’re going to review those through a process that’s already in place,” he told CNN in an interview broadcast Sunday. 

“We have got very clear criteria as to what it means for a state to sponsor terrorism, and we don’t make those judgments just based on the news of the day. We look systematically at what’s been done and based on those facts, we will make those determinations in the future.”

In sharp contrast, Washington is moving closer to taking Cuba off its blacklist in line with the surprise announcement last week that diplomatic relations would be restored as an outcome of 10 months of secret talks. This would leave North Korea as the only remaining vestige of the Cold War on the terrorism list. The other three listed countries are Iran, Sudan and Syria.

“For 50 years, we’ve tried to see if we can overthrow the regime through isolation,” Obama said during the interview.

“It hasn’t worked. If we engage, we have the opportunity to influence the course of events at a time when there’s going to be some generational change in that country. And I think we should seize it, and I intend to do so.”

The North turned up on the list in 1988, being accused of having orchestrated a mid-air bombing of a Korean Air jet the year before which killed all 115 people aboard. It was removed from the list in 2008 in exchange for progress in its denuclearization commitment made at a six-nation forum, including the destruction of a cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear complex.

North Korea and Cuba were seen as sharing much in common. Both the small communist states weathered the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and its aftereffects, faced stifling U.S.-led international sanctions and carried out family power successions in recent years.

And they had apparently maintained close cooperation until recently. Only last week, Havana proposed a resolution at a U.N. panel to defend Pyongyang’s human rights record and counter a European Union-led text calling for justice for the perpetrators including Kim.

In July 2013, Panamanian authorities intercepted a North Korean ship carrying arms from Cuba. The Latin American country initially reported the cargo as economic handouts in the form of sugar, but under the giant bags were two Cuban MiG-21 fighter jets, missiles and other equipment, which constituted a breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The gap between the two longtime allies is only set to continue widening. While Havana enjoys an easing of sanctions, economic aid and high-level exchanges with Washington and the world community, Pyongyang will likely face deeper isolation over its grave human rights situation, nuclear weapons and other asymmetric warfare programs.

Any return of North Korea to the terrorism list means more sanctions on trade, investment, assistance, financial transactions and other engagement with the reclusive country.

For Seoul, this could spell a greater dilemma as it is poring over ways to improve cross-border relations such as through a lifting of bilateral bans, restart of tours to Mount Geumgang and expansion of trilateral economic cooperation including Russia.

“It’s contradictory to see the two counties now going in completely different directions,” a Seoul official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

“It remains to be seen whether Washington will actually redesignate North Korea as a terrorism sponsor. But given the recent deal with the U.S., Cuba will now find it difficult to sustain close ties with the North, especially in military areas, as proven by the case of Myanmar.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)