South Korea Revives 'Enemy' Tag For Kim Jong Un's North Korea After 6-Year Hiatus Amid Souring Ties

After a 6-year hiatus, South Korea has once again revived the "enemy" title for its neighbor, North Korea, amid souring ties. 

What Happened: Seoul, in a defense document, called the nuclear-armed Pyongyang its “enemy” on Thursday, signaling a further hardening of South Korea's position toward Kim Jong Un's isolated nation, reported Agence France-Presse.

See Also: Xi Jinping’s China Wants To ‘Enhance’ Taiwan Ties — But Not In The Usual Way Governments Do

The document officially released by Seoul on Thursday said North Korea “defined us as an ‘undoubted enemy'” in December 2022. 

“Therefore, the North Korean regime and the North Korean military, which are the main agents of the activities, are our enemy,” added the document.

Kim declared his country an “irreversible” nuclear state in 2022 and carried out sanctions-busting missile tests nearly every month, including firing the intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, capable of destroying the U.S..

Pyongyang's unprecedented number of missile tests in the recent past has stalled peace talks between the two neighbors and prompting South Korea to stage military drills with Western ally, U.S..

Meanwhile, Kim broke ground on a large greenhouse project and the development of 10,000 apartments on Thursday, the state media reported, highlighting the construction projects amid foreign suspicion of food shortages.

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Posted In: NewsPoliticsGlobalGeneralEurasiaKim Jong UnNorth KoreaSouth Korea
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