In a defense paper released on Thursday, South Korea for the first time in six years referred to the nuclear-armed North as its “enemy,” indicating a further hardening of Seoul’s stance toward Pyongyang.
Since the 1950–1953 Korean War concluded in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two nations are still technically at war. Since a rare round of negotiation in 2019 ended in failure as Kim Jong Un redoubles his efforts to expand his military, talks have come to a standstill.
Last year, the North Korean leader declared his nation to be a “irreversible” nuclear power. Since then, his nation has violated international sanctions by conducting almost monthly weapons tests, including the launch of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
In reaction, Seoul’s new conservative administration increased joint exercises with Washington, a crucial security ally, and in a new defense white paper, Pyongyang was referred to as a “enemy” of the South.
The paper, which was officially made public on Thursday, stated that North Korea “designated us as a ‘undoubted enemy'” in December 2022. Because they are the major perpetrators of the acts, the North Korean dictatorship and its military are our enemies.
The action, according to analysts, demonstrated the “full with clashes” nature of inter-Korean ties, Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
Even a return to the Cold War era seems to be implied.
An Chan-il, the director of the World Institute for North Korea Studies and a former defector turned researcher, told AFP that the action made sense because “Pyongyang last year issued a legislation enshrining the ability to deploy preemptive nuclear strikes.”
He continued, “Not acting in response would not have been appropriate.”
In 1994, when a North Korean official threatened to pelt the South with “a sea of fire,” South Korea’s biannual defense white paper for the first time referred to Pyongyang as an enemy. The phrase was continued to be used until about 2000.
Following a brief lapse, it was reinstated in 2010 when North Korea was charged with sinking a South Korean warship, which claimed the lives of 46 seamen.
It was once more abandoned by Moon Jae-in, the dovish former president of Seoul who favored dialogue with Pyongyang.
With a promise to be strong on the North, Yoon Suk Yeol, the current president of South Korea, succeeded Moon in May of last year.
