SEOUL (REUTERS) -South Korea on Thursday called a nuclear-armed North Korea an “enemy” in a defense document, using the term for the first time in six years, suggesting it has further strengthened Seoul’s stance against North Korea.
The two countries have technically been at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, and Kim Jong-un’s military development doubled after a rare diplomatic round failure in 2019. , negotiations stalled.
North Korea’s leader last year declared the country an “irreversible” nuclear state and has conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month, including the launch of a cutting-edge intercontinental ballistic missile.
In response, Seoul’s new conservative government has called Pyongyang an “enemy” of South Korea in a new defense white paper and is stepping up joint exercises with its key security ally Washington.
North Korea “defined us as an ‘unquestionable enemy’ in December 2022,” said a document released officially on Thursday. “Therefore, the North Korean regime and the North Korean military, who are the main actors in our activities, are our enemies.”
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the Seoul University of North Korean Studies, told AFP that analysts said the move showed a state of inter-Korean relations that were “ridden with conflict.”
“It even gives the impression of going back to the Cold War era.”
An Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher and director of the World North Korea Institute, told AFP: “North Korea passed a law last year establishing the right to make a first strike. The move made sense because it did.
“It was not appropriate to do nothing,” he added.
South Korea’s semiannual defense white paper first described Pyongyang as an enemy in 1994 after North Korean officials threatened to rain a “sea of fire” on South Korea, and the term continued to be used until around 2000. .
It was shelved for several years, but resurfaced in 2010 after North Korea was accused of sinking a South Korean warship and killing 46 sailors. It was dropped again under South Korean taciturn former President Moon Jae-in, who advocated engagement with Pyongyang.
South Korea’s current president, Yoon Seok-yeol, pledged to crack down on North Korea in May of last year as Moon’s successor.
