Denouncing South Korea for calling North Korea its main enemy, the North said it would regard the definition as a "declaration of war" on the North.
"It was a grave, intolerable provocation that the South again labeled us its principal enemy," said Rodong Shinmun, organ of the North's ruling Workers' Party.
In an annual white paper released last week, South Korea's Defense Ministry described North Korea as the country's "main enemy" even as the two Koreas were promoting rapprochement following the historic summit of their leaders in June. That meeting was key to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung being awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
But according to the South Korean white paper, North Korea has upgraded its military power and deployed 500 short-range missiles and artillery units along the border with the South. North Korea is ready to launch a surprise attack on South Korea at any time without a redeployment of its units, it added.
North Korea attacked the South's document as "war mongering."
"It is an unpardonable act of bringing the inter-Korean relations back to the period of confrontation," said the Rodong editorial carried to mark the day when leaders from the two Koreas reached a historic agreement six months ago. "The provisions of the North-South agreements cannot be properly implemented unless those anti-reunification elements [in the South] seized with war fever are eliminated at once and the 'theory of the principal enemy' is withdrawn," it said. "Confrontation and war can never go with dialogue and reconciliation."
On June 15, South Korea's Kim and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il signed an agreement in which they pledged to work toward reconciliation, cooperation and an eventual unification. Since their meeting, the nations have embarked on a series of friendly gestures, including reunions of separated family members, the reopening of liaison offices and an agreement to reconnect a cross-border railway.
The Rodong editorial blamed the conservatives in the South for "hampering" progress in the inter-Korean peace process, calling them "anti-unification forces."
The North's strident rhetoric came as high-level talks on improving ties between the countries were stumbling. The ministerial talks aimed at reviewing progress in improving ties under an agreement reached at the June summit have been overshadowed by the South Korean white paper.
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