Image released by the South Korean Defense Ministry, South Korean Air Force F-35 fighter jets and U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly over South Korea during the joint air drills in response to North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile, ICBM, launch on Friday, Nov, 18. Yonhap

South Korea plans to revive a reference to the North Korean regime and its military as an "enemy" in its defense white paper to be published next month under the conservative administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol, government sources said Tuesday.

The move comes in the wake of Pyongyang's relentless weapons tests, including the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile launch last month and the firing this week of artillery shells into maritime "buffer zones" set under a 2018 inter-Korean accord to reduce tensions.

"An expression referring to the North Korean regime and its military as an enemy has been included in the draft of the white paper," a source said on condition of anonymity.

Before his inauguration on May 10, Yoon's transition team announced 110 key policy tasks, including considering reinstating the "enemy" label for the North Korean military in the biennial defense white paper and other documents.