South Korea labeled the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) government and its military an enemy in the latest defense white paper released Thursday by the defense ministry in Seoul.

The biennial paper opted for a harsher description of the DPRK than the more nuanced "direct military threat," adopted by the previous liberal administration of Roh Moo-hyun.

But it still stops short of calling the DPRK the "main enemy" of South Korea, as many had predicted in the wake of Pyongyang's alleged torpedo attack on a South Korean warship in March and the artillery exchange between the two sides near a South Korean island in November.

The controversial "main enemy" tag, introduced in 1995, was dropped in 2004 by Roh amid growing reconciliatory mood between the former wartime rivals.

The DPRK's government-run website Uriminzokkiri protested Wednesday Seoul's decision to call it names, claiming the move amounts to a "declaration of war." 

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