Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Ministries clash over whether to call North Korea 'principal enemy'
South Korean and North Korean flags fly in Daeseong-dong and Kijong-dong, respectively, across the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, May 8. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
Unification ministry says hostile label undermines Seoul's engagement drive
The Ministry of Unification on Thursday challenged the defense ministry’s position that North Korea remains a "principal enemy," saying the Lee Jae Myung administration’s goal of peaceful coexistence cannot be reconciled with treating Pyongyang in such terms.
The remarks exposed a rare policy divide within the government as the Ministry of National Defense prepares its 2026 Defense White Paper, the first to be issued under the Lee administration.
“The peaceful coexistence of the two Koreas is a firm policy goal of the Lee Jae Myung government,” a unification ministry official told reporters during a background briefing.
“One cannot pursue peaceful coexistence with North Korea while defining it as a principal enemy.”
The comments came hours after the defense ministry rejected media reports suggesting it was considering dropping references to North Korea as an enemy in the upcoming white paper.
“The report is not true,” Lee Kyung-ho, deputy spokesperson for the defense ministry, said during a regular briefing.
“Our position that the North Korean regime and the North Korean military are our enemy remains unchanged,” Lee added.
When asked whether the same wording would remain in the 2026 Defense White Paper, he replied in the affirmative.
The exchange highlighted differing views within the government over how North Korea should be characterized as the president seeks to revive engagement with Pyongyang after years of frozen inter-Korean relations.
The unification ministry official said discussions over the concept of a principal enemy should be viewed in the context of previous progressive administrations.
According to the official, the Roh Moo-hyun administration (2003-08) referred to North Korea as a “direct military threat” rather than explicitly designating it as the principal enemy, while the Moon Jae-in administration (2017-22) avoided referring to the North as an enemy altogether.
The official added that language used in the defense white paper should be reviewed within the same policy framework.
The unification ministry also plans to convey its position during interagency consultations on the document, the official said.
When asked whether the government had reached a consensus on how North Korea should be described, the official suggested that discussions were still ongoing.
“The matter will need to be discussed among the relevant ministries,” the official said.
References to North Korea in South Korea’s defense white papers have shifted repeatedly depending on the administration and the broader security environment.
The Kim Young-sam administration (1993-98) first identified North Korea as the country’s principal enemy in the 1995 Defense White Paper, following heightened military tensions.
The Roh administration later dropped the term, while the Lee Myung-bak administration (2008-13) restored stronger language after the 2010 sinking of the warship Cheonan and the enemy description continued through the Park Geun-hye administration (2013-17).
Direct references to North Korea as an enemy was again removed under the Moon administration, with the government instead defining enemies as forces threatening Korea’s sovereignty, territory, people and property.
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration revived naming the North as an enemy in the 2022 Defense White Paper, where it read that “the North Korean regime and the North Korean military are our enemy.”
The 2026 edition will be the first defense white paper prepared under the Lee administration. Its wording on North Korea has yet to be finalized.