South Korea plans to reintroduce the term "enemy" to refer to North Korea

The concept could be included in an official defense document to be published in January.

MADRID, 6 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The South Korean government plans to return to using the term "enemy" to refer to North Korea and its military in a "white paper" on defense 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 said, quoted by the South Korean news agency Yonhap on condition of anonymity.

Thus, they have detailed that the decision comes in line with the latest ballistic missile and artillery shots by Pyongyang, although the transition team of the current president, Yoon Suk Yeol, already announced 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 contrast, in 2010 the term "enemy" was reintroduced after a torpedo attack against a boat that killed 46 sailors and an artillery attack against a border island that left four dead, including two civilians.

Finally, the term was withdrawn in 2018 and 2020 by then-president Moon Jae In, who promoted a diplomatic rapprochement process that included several summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-US president Donald Trump, although they did not agree. materialized in concrete agreements.

In this sense, sources from the South Korean Ministry of Unification 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 due to the rise in tensions in recent months.

"The use of the expression 'enemy' (...) is based on the characteristics of Army operations," he said, before stressing that "it must be made clear that the use of this expression by the Army does not mean reject inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation."

During the day of this Tuesday, the General Staff of the North Korean Army has given the order to open artillery fire towards the Sea of ​​Japan --known as the East Sea in Korea-- in response to the military maneuvers by South Korea and United States near the border.

North Korea is referring to live-fire drills that took place Tuesday 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 about 130 artillery shells at "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 North Korean officials and entities after Pyongyang stepped up its firing of ballistic missiles and artillery shells in recent weeks.