The South Korean government plans to revert to using the term «enemy» to refer to North Korea and its military in a defense ‘white paper’ to be published in January 2023, according to South Korean government sources.
«An expression referring to the North Korean regime and its Army as an enemy has been included in the draft of the ‘white paper,'» these sources, quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency on condition of anonymity, have said.
They detailed that the decision comes in the wake of Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile and artillery fire, although the transition team of the current president, Yoon Suk Yeol, had already said before the inauguration that it would consider this designation for North Korea.
North Korea was first labeled an «enemy» in one of these documents in 1995, after a senior North Korean official threatened to turn Seoul «into a sea of flames.» However, in the 2004 version the expression was replaced by «direct military threat.»
In 2010, however, the term «enemy» was reintroduced after a torpedo attack on a ship killed 46 sailors and an artillery attack on a border island killed four people, including two civilians.
The term was finally withdrawn in 2018 and 2020 by then President Moon Jae In, who promoted a process of diplomatic rapprochement that included several summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and then US President Donald Trump, although they did not materialize into concrete agreements.
In this regard, South Korean Unification Ministry sources have stressed that the possible inclusion of the term «enemy» in the document would not mean ruling out the path of dialogue with North Korea, currently stalled by the escalation of tensions in recent months.
«The use of the term ‘enemy’ (…) is based on the characteristics of the Army’s operations,» he said, before stressing that «it should be made clear that the Army’s use of this term does not mean rejecting inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation.»
Earlier Tuesday, the North Korean Army General Staff ordered artillery fire into the Sea of Japan — known as the East Sea in Korea — in response to military exercises by South Korea and the U.S. near the border.
North Korea is referring to Tuesday’s live-fire drills between South Korea and the United States at border units in Cheorwon County, 71 kilometers northeast of Seoul.
The North Korean order comes a day after Pyongyang fired nearly 130 artillery shells into ‘buffer zones’ on the maritime border, after which Seoul denounced it as a violation of the military agreement signed in 2018.
The governments of the United States, Japan and South Korea on Friday tightened their sanctions against senior North Korean officials and entities after Pyongyang stepped up its ballistic missile and artillery shell launches in recent weeks.