A South Korean defense white paper has referred to North Korea and its military as the country's "enemy" for the first time in six years.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office last May, has been taking a tough stance against North Korea, which is accelerating its nuclear and missile development.

The biennial document released on Thursday says North Korea possesses a little over 70 kilograms of plutonium. This is 20 kilograms more than the estimated amount listed in the previous white paper published two years ago.

It says North Korea also possesses a considerable amount of highly enriched uranium.

The white paper says the North defines South Korea as an "undoubted enemy" and Pyongyang continues to pose a military threat without renouncing its nuclear program. It says that as the executor of the threat, the North Korean regime and military are the country's enemy.

Defense white papers published under Yoon's predecessor, Moon Jae-in, did not refer to North Korea as an enemy.

The new white paper calls Japan a close neighboring country that shares values with South Korea. It says Japan and South Korea should build future cooperative relations that meet common interests.

Regarding Dokdo, known as the Takeshima Islands in Japan, the paper says South Korea will resolutely and strictly deal with Japan's claims of sovereignty. South Korea controls the islands. Japan claims them.