MOSCOW (Sputnik) – South Korea’s Defense Ministry published on Tuesday its new Defense White Paper, which reflected changes in the situation on the Korean Peninsula and relations between Seoul and Pyongyang, abandoning the word “enemy” as a means to refer to North Korea.
South Korea’s Defense White Paper is a document that is adopted on a biannual basis and takes stock of the given period, defining the development areas for the next 2-year period.
One of the most important innovations of the new White Paper was the definition of an enemy. Before the document’s release, South Korean media suggested that the administration of South Korea’s liberal President Moon Jae-in in its first Defense White Paper would refrain from the use of poignant expressions targeting Pyongyang, which were favoured by previous conservative administrations, directly calling Pyongyang Seoul’s “enemy.”
Such assumptions proved to be accurate, with the document stating that “forces that threaten sovereignty, territory, people and assets of the Republic of Korea and violate them” are considered the enemies of the South Korean armed forces.
The South Korean Defense Ministry explained in a press release devoted to the publication of the White Book that “the expression ‘enemy’ in terms of national defence goals refers not only to North Korea’s threat, but also to hidden and growing supranational and non-military threats.
