Defense White Paper Defines N.Korean Regime as Enemy

The Defense Ministry on Monday said it will describe the North Korean regime and military as an "enemy," instead of the old expression "main enemy," in its white paper 2010 due out on Thursday.

This is the first time the defense white paper has described the North Korean regime as opposed to the country as an enemy.

The white papers from 1995 to 2000 took North Korea as the "main enemy." Since 2004, they described the North as a "serious threat" or a "direct and serious threat."

In the introductory part stating the "defense goals," the new white paper states, "The North poses a serious threat to security by developing and augmenting massive conventional military capabilities and weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons and missiles, and through constant armed provocations like the torpedo attack on the Navy corvette Cheonan, and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. As long as the threat continues, the North Korean regime and military, the perpetrators of all such provocations, are an enemy."

A senior military officer said, "We limited the concept of enemy to the North Korean regime and military to separate the North Korean people. We didn't specifically use the expression 'main enemy' due to our relations with neighboring countries, because it implies that there also may be other enemies."