South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said its stance that "the North Korean regime and military are our enemy remains unchanged," responding to media reports that the phrase "the North Korean regime is our enemy" could be deleted from the "2026 Defense White Paper" set to be published at year-end.
"Reports that we are reviewing a direction not to define North Korea as an enemy are not true," the ministry said Tuesday.
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back also stated at a National Assembly hearing in July last year that "the defense minister must firmly establish a view toward the enemy and toward North Korea," adding that "our main enemy is North Korea." Accordingly, it is understood that the ministry is highly likely to maintain the existing phrasing that "the North Korean regime and military are our enemy" when it publishes the Lee Jae-myung administration's first defense white paper at year-end.
The defense white paper is a document outlining the government's defense policy direction and is published every two years. The concept of North Korea as the main enemy first appeared in the 1995 defense white paper, after which it was repeatedly revised, deleted, and restored. Under the Moon Jae-in administration, the expression explicitly naming North Korea as an enemy disappeared, before being restored under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.
Because the Lee Jae-myung administration is pursuing a policy of peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula, the possibility was raised that the "enemy" reference could be dropped again, but the ministry has effectively dismissed this.
