The South Korean military has stopped referring to North Korea as an enemy state in its biennial Defense White Paper which outlines South Korea’s security threats and military policy.
In the latest Defense White Paper released on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry instead described "enemy" as "every force that threatens or violates South Korea's sovereignty, territory, people and property."
The South Korean military also omitted the terms "Kill Chain" and "Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation" when referring to its three-pronged defense system against North Korea’s nuclear threat.
The revisions in the first defense white paper under the Moon Jae-in administration come amid the two Koreas' accelerating efforts to reduce cross-border military tensions and improve socioeconomic ties.
The paper said the two Koreas plan to actively take trust-building steps, such as turning the Demilitarized Zone into a peace zone, establishing a peace zone along the de facto western sea border, and holding regular inter-Korean military talks.
The first time North Korea was referenced as the main enemy in the white paper was 1995, a year after a North Korean delegate threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of flames” during inter-Korean talks.
In 2004, the phrase “main enemy” was replaced with “direct military threat” by the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration, but it was reintroduced in 2010 after the North's torpedo attack on the South Korean warship Cheonan.
As for the North's nuclear and missile programs, the paper said Pyongyang has advanced its nuclear capabilities through six nuclear tests, with some 50 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium and a sizeable amount of highly-enriched uranium in its possession.
It added the North likely has 14 types of short-range to intercontinental ballistic missiles.