South Korea's defense white paper plans to redefine the definition and list the North Korean regime and the North Korean military as enemies.

The picture shows a South Korean tank firing shells.

(AFP)

[Instant News/Comprehensive Report] South Korea's 2022 version of the "National Defense White Paper" will be published in January next year. According to sources from the South Korean government, the draft of the 2022 National Defense White Paper is expected to include "The North Korean regime and the North Korean military are our enemies."

According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, before South Korean President Yoon Suk-yue took office, the Presidential Transition Committee announced 110 policy issues on May 3, including defining North Korea as an enemy in the defense white paper, and will define “North Korea regime and The definition of "North Korean army is the enemy" is included in the ideological education textbooks for South Korean officers and soldiers.

A source from the South Korean government said on the 6th that, as previously mentioned in the governance issues, the draft of the 2022 version of the "National Defense White Paper" will clearly state that "North Korea is the enemy."

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The report pointed out that South Korea’s defense white paper in 1995 first regarded North Korea as a “main enemy”, and it was used until 2000. After the relations between North and South Korea eased, the South Korean government changed North Korea to a “direct military threat” in 2004. President Lee Myung-bak has also used this wording since he took office in 2008.

After the "Cheonan Incident" and "Yonpyeong Island Incident", the 2010 National Defense White Paper reconsidered North Korea as an "enemy".

In the national defense white papers released by former President Moon Jae-in in 2018 and 2020, he transformed this narrative into "regarding all forces that threaten and violate South Korea's sovereignty, territory, national life, and property safety as enemies."

If the 2022 draft defense white paper is passed, it will be South Korea's defense white paper that has relisted the North Korean regime and the North Korean military as "enemies" since 2016.