South Korea’s new white paper on defence describes the North as an enemy, noting that Pyongyang is increasing the size of its Special Forces and massing tanks on the border for an attack.

Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – North Korea bolstered the size of its special forces, deployed new battle tanks and increased its focus on unconventional warfare, this according to a white paper released by the South Korean Defence Ministry. In it, the North is named as an “enemy” and its nuclear programme as the greatest threat.

The number of lightly equipped Special Forces, trained to infiltrate South Korea and destroy military installations, increased by 20,000 to 200,000 over the past two years, the report said.

For Seoul, Pyongyang is the “enemy”, a step backward compared to previous biennial reports (issued since 2004) that described it as a direct and serious threat, but not as serious as it was during the 1995-2000 period, when North Korea was described as the “main enemy”.

“Threats from North Korea's asymmetric warfare capabilities—such as Special Forces, artillery pieces and weapons of mass destruction—have been on a steady rise since 2008,” Deputy Defence Minister Chang Kwang Il said.

The Defence Ministry white paper warned that North Korea has arrayed long-range artillery along the intra-Korean border, capable of a 'massive surprise bombardment' on Seoul and deployed a new, faster, more powerful tank called the Storm Tiger.

Military officials in Seoul also noted that North Korea's ageing conventional weapons could not compete with the technological advantage of the South Korean and US militaries so North Korean military planners are increasing their development and use of unconventional weapons, such as low-cost missiles and improvised explosives.

• north
• south
• korea
• defence
• white
• paper
• threats
• special
• forces
• nuclear