South Korea: For the first time in six years, South Korea referred to the nuclear-armed North as its “enemy” in a defence document signalling a further hardening of Seoul’s stance towards Pyongyang.

Since the 1950–1953 Korean War concluded in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two nations are still technically at war. After the failure of a rare round of negotiation in 2019, talks have stopped as Mr. Kim Jong Un intensifies his military buildup.

The North Korean leader declared his nation to be an “irreversible” nuclear power and conducted nearly monthly weapons tests that violated international sanctions last year, including the launch of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

In reaction, Seoul’s new conservative administration increased security drills with Washington, a major ally, and Pyongyang was referred to as an “enemy” of the South in a new defence document. The document, which was formally made public stated that in December 2022, North Korea “designated us as an ‘undoubted adversary'”. The North Korean regime and its armed forces, which are the major perpetrators of the acts, are thus our enemies.

After a North Korean official vowed to pelt the South with “a sea of fire,” Pyongyang was first referred to as an enemy in South Korea’s biannual defence white paper in 1994. The phrase continued to be used until about 2000. After being put on hold for a while, it was brought up again in 2010 after North Korea was charged with sinking a South Korean warship, which resulted in the deaths of 46 seamen.

Under the dovish previous president of Seoul, Mr. Moon Jae-in, who promoted dialogue with Pyongyang, it was once more abandoned.

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