South Korea labels North Korea ‘enemy’ in latest defense White Paper

SEOUL - South Korea has labeled rival North Korea as an enemy in its latest defense white paper released Thursday by the defense ministry here.

The biennial paper opted for a harsher description than the more nuanced “direct military threat,” adopted by the previous liberal administration of Roh Moo-hyun.

But, according to the China Daily and the Xinhua news agency, it stopped short of calling Pyongyang the “main enemy” of Seoul, as many had predicted it would in the wake of Pyongyang’s alleged torpedo attack on a South Korean warship in March and the artillery exchange between both sides near a South Korean island in November.

The North Korean government-run website Uriminzokkiri has warned that Seoul’s decision to call it names amounts to a “declaration of war.” (ANI)