{"id":2200072,"date":"2023-02-16T03:02:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T03:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2200072"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:09:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:09:43","slug":"new-defense-white-paper-reflects-yoon-suk-yeols-hardline-stance-on-north-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/new-defense-white-paper-reflects-yoon-suk-yeols-hardline-stance-on-north-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"New defense white paper reflects Yoon Suk-yeol\u2019s hardline stance on North Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"
South Korea released its 2022 Defense White Paper on Thursday, and it takes a sharp U-Turn from the previous Moon Jae-in administration\u2019s <\/span>dovish approach<\/span><\/a> to North Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n As <\/span>widely predicted<\/span><\/a>, the new white paper defines North Korea\u2019s regime and armed forces as South Korea\u2019s enemy, undoing the previous government’s removal of the line from the 2018 white paper.<\/span><\/p>\n The new report justifies the revision by pointing to Pyongyang\u2019s own branding of Seoul as its \u201c<\/span>clear enemy<\/span><\/a>\u201d in December and notes that the DPRK expressed its intention to \u201ccommunize the entire Korean Peninsula.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The new white paper also adds the violation of the <\/span>2018 inter-Korean military agreement<\/span><\/a> to its list of North Korean military provocations, mentioning the various missile tests, <\/span>drone incursions<\/span><\/a> and artillery fire into maritime buffer zones.<\/span><\/p>\n CLOSE NEIGHBORS<\/b><\/p>\n South Korea\u2019s relations with Japan hit a nadir under Moon Jae-in and spiraled into a <\/span>trade war<\/span><\/a> and hostility over <\/span>unsettled historical disputes<\/span><\/a>. The Moon government even threatened to <\/span>terminate<\/span><\/a> an intel-sharing agreement with Japan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n No love was lost as Seoul\u2019s 2020 white paper described Japan simply as a \u201cneighbor\u201d with which South Korea should cooperate in the broad context of pursuing global peace.<\/span><\/p>\n Amid <\/span>efforts to repair relations<\/span><\/a> and forge stronger trilateral ties with Japan and the U.S. to deter North Korea, the new white paper calls Tokyo a \u201cclose neighbor\u201d with which Seoul shares common values and emphasizes the need to develop a \u201cfuturistic, cooperative relationship.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Still, <\/span>territorial claims<\/span><\/a> and historical disputes over Imperial Japan\u2019s wartime use of <\/span>forced labor<\/span><\/a> and sexual slavery are not to be brushed aside. Seoul says it is \u201cfirm\u201d on countering efforts at <\/span>revisionism<\/span><\/a> and aims to resolve such sticking points while improving their relations.<\/span><\/p>\n THREAT PERCEPTION<\/b><\/p>\n Seoul\u2019s latest defense white paper also suggests the North has continued to produce nuclear materials \u201cin its nuclear plants, including the <\/span>Yongbyon facility<\/span><\/a>,\u201d accumulating about 154 pounds (70 kilograms) of plutonium. It\u2019s also believed to have a significant amount of highly enriched uranium (HEU).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The previous white paper put the amount of plutonium at 110 pounds (50 kilograms) and only mentioned the Yongbyon plant.<\/span><\/p>\n Following Pyongyang’s unprecedented number of missiles tested last year, the new white paper has added seven new projectiles to its line-up of the North\u2019s known missiles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It has identified close-range and short-range missiles deemed tactical guided weapons, new Pukguksong 4 and 5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles and two hypersonic models sporting wedge-shaped and conical gliders. The new paper also specifies the <\/span>Hwasong-17<\/span><\/a> intercontinental ballistic missile as capable of traveling over 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers).<\/span><\/p>\n