Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Seoul to stop calling North Korea 'enemy' in defense paper
A South Korean soldier stands near a destroyed guard post in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province in this Dec. 12, file photo. Two Koreas inspected 22 dismantled guard posts in each other's territories recently according to the inter-Korean agreement of the Comprehensive Military Agreement made in September. / Korea Times file
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
South Korea will not reference North Korea as an “enemy” in its new Defense White Paper, sources said.
Government sources said Wednesday the Ministry of National Defense is pushing to change North Korea’s status to a non-enemy state in the upcoming biennial paper which will be released next year. The ministry plans to expand the definition of enemy to include the phrase, “Every force that threatens South Korea is an enemy.”
The 2018 white paper is the first of its kind published under the current Moon Jae-in administration. The assessment published in 2016 referred to the North as the South’s main enemy. The ministry said North Korea is an enemy unless the country stops military provocations.
The move is likely an inter-Korean effort to ease military tensions, a goal agreed upon at the last inter-Korean summit. Military authorities got rid of 22 front-line guard posts near the border recently following the agreement. The military is not subject to international sanctions against the North when seeking inter-Korean cooperation.
The Panmunjeom Declaration agreed on by the two Korean leaders in April says, “South and North Korea agreed to completely cease all hostile acts against each other in every domain — including land, air and sea — that is a source of military tension and conflict.”
It was 1995 when North Korea was first referenced in the white paper as a main enemy, a year after the North Korean delegate threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of flames” during inter-Korean meetings.
It was 2004 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration when North Korea was described as “a direct military threat,” instead of an enemy. Under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the term was reintroduced and the North has remained as the South’s main enemy in the book ever since.
Sources said the presidential office’s National Security Council has already reviewed its draft. If Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo approves it, the white paper will be published in the middle of January.