Ministries clash over Defense White Paper labeling North Korea as the 'main enemy'... Pyongyang says South Korea is its 'unchanging adversary'
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- 2026-06-18 11:51:43
- Updated
- 2026-06-18 11:51:43
The Ministry of National Defense is pushing to include North Korea as the main enemy in the white paper. The MOU, however, said it would voice opposition to that move, signaling a different stance.
An MOU official said on the 18th, "Peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula is a firm position of the Lee Jae Myung administration," adding, "It is difficult to reconcile that with the idea of a main enemy. " The MOU is effectively taking the position that it does not agree with the concept of North Korea as the main enemy.
It also said it would present such objections during the process of preparing the Defense White Paper. The government has generally coordinated between ministries when producing the Unification White Paper or the Defense White Paper.
Differences between the MOU and the Ministry of National Defense over the main-enemy issue began when the Lee Jae Myung administration took office. During confirmation hearings last July, before formally taking office, Unification Minister Jung Dong-young and Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back also took opposing positions on the main-enemy argument.
At his confirmation hearing, Jung said he did not agree with the view that North Korea is South Korea's main enemy, describing North Korea as a threat. Ahn, by contrast, said, "The North Korean military and the North Korean regime are our enemies," indicating that he supported the main-enemy view.
Amid the interagency conflict within the South Korean government, North Korea has declared South Korea its "unchanging adversary. " On the 13th, North Korea said through a statement by the spokesperson of the 10th Bureau under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "No matter what the politicians in Seoul say or do, our principle of treating South Korea as a thoroughly hostile state remains unchanged.
" The 10th Bureau, which issued the statement, was newly created after North Korea defined inter-Korean relations as "hostile two states" and sought to shift work on South Korea into the diplomatic sphere. Kim Jong Un is seen attending a ceremony in Pyongyang on Feb.
18 for the 600 mm multiple rocket launcher, which North Korea says can strike targets across the Korean Peninsula.
