Author: Fox News

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was compared to Genghis Khan, a murderous Mongol warlord, in an op-ed from Thursday that also labeled him as just “as dangerous to democracy” as former President Donald Trump.

In a Vanity Fair column headlined “Ron DeSantis shouldn’t be covered like just another Republican,” left-wing writer Molly Jong-Fast launched a series of attacks on the governor. 

She argued that DeSantis is more than just a “culture warrior.”

“He is the Genghis Khan of social issues, using every opportunity to target and demonize groups that have already been targeted and demonized throughout history,” Jong-Fast claimed. 

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Genghis Khan’s many wars are estimated to have killed roughly 40 million people, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. (In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)

Some users on Twitter mocked Jong-Fast for comparing DeSantis, an American politician, to Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire. Khan’s wars are estimated to have killed roughly 40 million people, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. 

“DeSantis is more of a Genghis Khan mixed with Pol Pot rolled up in Stalin and [multiplied] by Hitler,” Grabien founder Tom Elliott sarcastically tweeted on Thursday. 

Jong-Fast, who has over one million followers on Twitter, also argued that DeSantis was an oppressor in “classic authoritarian” style because he opposed, among other things, critical race theory (CRT) in Florida universities. 

DeSantis announced in January that the state would slash funding to all CRT and diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state colleges because education should be “grounded in actual history, the actual philosophy that has shaped western civilization,” he said in a press conference at the time. 

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“He is the Genghis Khan of social issues,” one liberal columnist said of DeSantis. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

Jong-Fast similarly targeted former President Donald Trump in her verbal onslaught, calling him the “poor man’s DeSantis.” 

But she urged readers to take both leaders seriously, saying that “DeSantis is as dangerous as Trump—if not more.”

DeSantis has yet to declare his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, as Jong-Fast acknowledged, but some late night comedians have focused on the growing tensions between DeSantis and Trump. 

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Late night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel reacted Tuesday to a New York Times report that Trump has called DeSantis “Meatball Ron” in private. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Late night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel reacted Tuesday to a New York Times report that Trump has called DeSantis “Meatball Ron” in private. 

Jong-Fast was adamant that Trump and DeSantis were both “cut from the same autocratic cloth.”

“They are not the kind of leaders that we’re accustomed to seeing in a democracy,” she emphasized.

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As avian influenza sweeps the nation — infecting more than 58.3 million poultry and 6,192 wild birds in the U.S. as of Wednesday, per the CDC — infectious disease experts are watching closely.

Dr. Christian Sandrock, division vice chief of internal medicine at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California, specializes in infectious diseases and has researched avian influenza extensively. 

Although bird flu is contagious, Dr. Sandrock does not think it poses a grave danger to humans.

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“It’s predominantly a disease of birds,” he told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. 

“It’s very common among wild waterfowl all around the world, and it can jump to domesticated birds, particularly turkeys and chickens. It can also infect pigs, swine and many other animals,” he said.

Bird flu has infected more than 58.3 million poultry and 6,192 wild birds in the U.S. as of this past Wednesday, the CDC said. (iStock)

That’s not to say humans can’t catch it. 

Dr. Sandrock confirmed that people can contract bird flu — and it’s possible for them to get sick or even die from it — but he said the virus would have to change in some way to become highly contagious among humans.

The contagion risk increases when a strain of avian influenza mixes with another flu virus that is more “human-friendly,” a process called genetic reassortment, he said. The end result is a new virus that is stronger and easier to transmit.

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“A single virus can go from a bird to a human — but the real threat is when you throw in one or two other viruses from pigs or humans, and that sets the stage,” Dr. Sandrock said.

“The influenza virus is excellent at mutating and recombining.”

Erica Susky, a certified infection control practitioner based in Canada, doesn’t rule out the chance of human transmission. 

“The influenza virus is excellent at mutating and recombining,” she said. “If there are repeated contacts between species that can be infected by one type of influenza viral strain or another, there is an increased chance of a novel strain that can adapt to transmission in a different species, such as humans.”

The CDC has identified five strains of bird flu that have infected humans. The strain that is currently taking the biggest toll on the bird population is H5N1. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Although it’s still rare for humans to catch bird flu, the fatality rate is high if it does happen. 

In a virtual press conference earlier this month, Dr. Sylvie Briand, director of the pandemic and epidemic diseases department at the World Health Organization (WHO), said that when humans are infected, they are more likely to have severe disease. 

Although it’s still rare for humans to catch bird flu, the fatality rate is high if it does happen.

“It’s between a 30-50% case fatality ratio, but again, those viruses are not very transmissible,” Dr. Briand said.

To date, the CDC has identified five strains of bird flu that have infected humans: H5N1, H6N1, H7N9, H9N2 and H10N3. The strain that’s currently taking the biggest toll on the bird population is H5N1.

As of publication time, there has only been one human case of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S.

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“Over the past few weeks, there have been several reports of mammals — including minks, otters, foxes and sea lions — having been infected with H5N1 avian influenza,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during the February press conference.

“H5N1 has spread widely in wild birds and poultry for 25 years, but the recent spillover to mammals needs to be monitored closely.”

The bird flu outbreak has slashed egg production, causing prices to soar to record highs in 2022. (Reuters/Hannah McKay)

Lisa Steele, a farm owner in Maine who tends her own flock of backyard chickens, has been keeping a close eye on the bird flu outbreak.

“The avian flu is nothing new — it circulates every few years — but generally, it’s only during the wild bird migration season,” she told Fox News Digital in an email. 

“Last year, the cases continued pretty much all year. It is a bit concerning that the warm weather doesn’t seem to result in a reduced number of cases.”

People who come across a sick or dead bird should avoid touching it — and contact local authorities. 

The bird flu outbreak has slashed egg production, causing prices to soar to record highs in 2022.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that by the end of December 2022, more than 43 million egg-laying hens had died as a result of H5N1.

Steps to minimize the spread

Susky said the highest risk of transmission is from direct contact with infected birds during the process of slaughtering and preparing them.

“The best way to minimize risk is to avoid contact with birds and wild animals,” she told Fox News Digital in an email. 

The H5N1 strain of avian flu has spread to minks, otters, foxes and sea lions, among other mammals.

“Those working with birds or other animals, such as in agriculture, should be trained in using protective equipment to minimize potential exposure to injury from animals, fluids and aerosols — for example, from soiled bedding and feeds,” Susky said. 

“This could include handwashing, proper disinfectants, gloves, aprons, eye protection, boot covers, masks and proper facilities to provide maximum air exchanges.”

Because the disease spreads through wild birds and waterfowl, Steele said it’s important to keep bird feeders away from chicken coops or poultry houses, or take them down altogether if there are active cases in the area.

It’s important to keep bird feeders away from chicken coops or poultry houses, or take them down altogether if there are active cases of bird flu in the area, said one farm owner. (iStock)

“Backyard chicken keepers should take further precautions, such as keeping their chickens indoors or undercover to protect them from bird droppings, which also can spread the virus,” she said.

People who come across a sick or dead bird should avoid touching it and contact local authorities. 

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“Signs that an animal is in distress include abnormal behavior, being docile around humans, and being found in places they wouldn’t normally be,” JD Bergeron, CEO of International Bird Rescue in San Francisco, told Fox News Digital.

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The CDC will continue to update the bird flu data on its website each Wednesday at 2 p.m. EST.

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, are speaking out while dealing with the devastating aftermath of a train derailment that caused toxic chemicals to pollute the town’s environment.

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Despite EPA officials and the Biden administration claiming the town is safe to inhabit, many residents are apprehensive of these claims due to allegedly seeing and feeling the effects of the toxicity permeate their community. 

“It makes me feel infuriated,” said East Palestine resident Mike McKim told “Jesse Watters Primetime” in response to officials’ guidance regarding the safety of the town.

“The only way I’m going to feel good about anything that’s going on here is when they come down off of their pedestals. Come to East Palestine, drink the water, bring their kids, make baby formula, and take their kids. Play basketball right where I’m at, right here I’m at ground zero practically right now. I don’t feel safe. I haven’t seen any groundwater or ground testing as far as my kids can go play basketball outside. My kids can ride on bicycles, play in puddles. I haven’t seen any of it. I want to see that. And until I see that, I don’t believe any of it,” said McKim.

Despite the reported testing, community members have described sightings of dead animals and fish in local waterways. Ohio Sen. JD Vance ventured to the town to scope out the damage caused and chemicals can be seen stirred up in the creek he visited.

An environmental company is removing dead fish downstream from the site of the train derailment that forced people to be evacuated from their homes in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 6, 2023. (Reuters/Alan Freed ./File Photo)

Lenny Glaven, another East Palestine resident, said the creek the senator visited was close to his house. Glaven described how Vance seeing those chemicals in the water was “surreal.”

“That’s the same creek that, you know, I can access from my house right on that side of town. I can walk from my house through the park, through the walking trail. That trail actually goes down along that trail. My three kids, my dog, my wife. We’ve walked that many times. And if you keep going to the end of it, it’s my parents right at the bottom of that hill,” he Glaven.

McKim went on to say how he wants to be able to “trust” the health reports and “believe” everything is well going forward with the town.

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“I want to see the railroad tycoons come down here. They created this mess. They created the problem. You have to be liable for the problem that you created. Get down here. Apologize to everybody. That would be a good start. It really would be. But I don’t think they have the balls to do it,” says McKim.

Arkansas filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to reject its plan to comply with federal rules that are supposed to assure that the state’s coal-fired power plants and industrial sites don’t pollute the air in other states.

The state filed a petition with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over the EPA disapproving the state’s plan to meet the “good neighbor” obligations under the Clean Air Act. The EPA rejected plans from Arkansas and 18 other states this week.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, said the agency isn’t allowing her state to revise its plan, which was submitted in 2019.

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“Critical Arkansas industries, and more importantly, Arkansas workers and their families, stand to be affected by this out-of-control federal overreach,” Sanders said at a news conference with Attorney General Tim Griffin announcing the lawsuit.

Arkansas has filed a lawsuit against the EPA’s decision to reject the state’s plan to prevent air pollution.

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A 2015 EPA rule blocks states from adding to ozone pollution outside their boundaries. Last year the agency announced its plan to limit downwind pollution from power plants. In cases where a state has not submitted a “good neighbor” proposal — or in cases where EPA rejects one — the federal plan would take effect to protect downwind states.

The EPA didn’t immediately have a comment about the lawsuit when contacted by The Associated Press. The agency has said its plan will help states meet air quality standards and improve health in communities affected by smog.

Griffin said the EPA rejected Arkansas’ proposal based on the impact its emissions would have on the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas, which Griffin said was a different standard than the state was originally told it would be held to.

Human rights scholar and professor Steven Greer, 66, who was exonerated of Islamophobia by an inquiry last year, said he lives in fear because of left-wing activists.

Greer first faced Islamophobia allegations in 2020 after he used a political cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed on a teaching slide in his class at Bristol University. Bristol University is based in the United Kingdom and enrolls over 22,000 students.

Bristol University’s Islamic Society filed a complaint against Greer alleging that elements in his teaching were Islamophobic. They also made the complaint public through an online petition and social media campaign in February 2021.

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On the second anniversary of the student loan payment pause, We, The 45M, use signs and projections outside of the U.S. Department of Education to celebrate the pause and ask Education Secretary Cardona to cancel student debt on March 14, 2022 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We The 45 Million)

One of Greer’s lectures was accused of being “bigoted” for addressing Sharia Law and the treatment of women and non-Muslims in Islamic states.

Although Bristol University’s 5-month investigation concluded that the accusations against Greer were baseless, he succumbed to the aftermath.

Greer was signed off work by a doctor and was placed on unofficial “research leave.” When he returned to campus, he was not given any teaching duties. Eventually, Bristol University, the institution he taught at since the 1980s, removed his teaching module on Islam, China, and other far eastern countries.

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Greer was so scared for his life that he grew a long, bushy beard, wore fake glasses, and carried a screwdriver with him in case he was attacked. (iStock)

Furthermore, he went into hiding after Bristol University Law School undergraduates complained that elements of his course were Islamophobic.

“For my own safety, I was forced to act like a fugitive for including academically authoritative, fact-based information in my course that a few militant students took objection to,” Greer told Daily Mail.

“My case is not the first of this kind and nor, sadly, is it likely to be the last,” Greer said. 

Greer was so scared for his life that he grew a long, bushy beard, wore fake glasses, and carried a screwdriver with him in case he was attacked. Additionally, he admitted he was more afraid for his life after he was berated by “woke” students.

Greer shared concern that academics were at risk of attacks because of how easy it was for students to fling racism allegations “based on nothing but lies and distortion.”

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College students sitting at rows of desks in classroom.  (Elina Shirazi)

“There is a growing risk that many students will leave university with little critical insight, knowledge, or appreciation of the vital importance of intellectual freedom and evidence-based thinking in a healthy democracy,” Greer said. “Some, wearing self-tied gags and blinkers, will go on to join the next generation of leaders. This does not bode well for the future of our society.”

Gisele Bündchen is ready to show off her samba moves for Carnival.

The supermodel posted a video of herself practicing a sexy dance routine with an instructor.

“Getting in the mood for carnival!” Bündchen wrote in the Instagram caption in both English and Portuguese, the language spoken in her native Brazil. She also tagged Marisa Monte, the samba musician whose music she danced to in the video.

Carnival is the five-day celebration leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent in Brazil, dating back to the 1700s. 

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Similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the festival typically features parades with colorful floats and costumes, and of course, dancing, like what Bündchen was practicing.

The video comes just two days after she and her ex, Tom Brady, shared Valentine’s Day messages to their followers, but not each other, on Instagram.

Brady, who officially retired for the second time just a few weeks ago, shared a quote by Sadhguru, which reads, “Love is not a transaction; it is a certain exuberance and sweetness of your emotion,” followed by pictures of his children with Bündchen.

Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen announced the end of their marriage in October. (Matt Winkelmeyer)

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Bündchen posted pictures of her dogs with the caption, “Pure love!! I am convinced they are little angels on Earth. Happy Valentine’s Day to all!”

The Sports Illustrated model and NFL star were married for 13 years and announced their divorce in October.

Gisele Bündchen wore a gold dress in her first red carpet appearance since her divorce from Tom Brady. (SplashNews.com)

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She has also been photographed working quite a bit the past few months, and according to a source for People, “really is in such a good place.”

In a September interview with Elle, Bündchen compared transitioning from her fast-paced modeling career to her more settled family life to descending into a valley after summiting a mountain.

However, she told the outlet that she was happy that she had decided to focus on raising her children during their early years: “I’m so grateful to have been there in those moments that were really shaping who they are as people,” the model said.

“I feel very fulfilled in that way, as a mother and as a wife. And now it’s going to be my turn. It’s not like I’m going to be in the valley forever. I have a huge list of things that I have to do, that I want to do. At 42, I feel more connected with my purpose.”

Paris Hilton and Carter Reum kept the recent birth of their first child very close to home. 

Hilton’s family didn’t even know the couple was expecting when their surrogate gave birth to their son, she revealed in a new interview with Harper’s Bazaar.

“My entire life has been so public,” she explained. “I’ve never had anything for myself. We decided that we wanted to have this whole experience to ourselves.”

The “Simple Life” star, 41, said that she went to extreme measures to keep the birth of her son private.

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Paris Hilton revealed that she didn’t tell her family she was expecting a child until after he was born. (Photo by Neilson Barnard)

Hilton wore a brunette wig to the hospital and checked in under an alias. As for things at home, she told her staff at home that she was painting a room in the house, which led them to being away from the home for two days.

The hotel heiress was able to keep the birth of her son a secret and announced the news herself on social media in January. “You are already loved beyond words,” she wrote alongside an image of her holding her new baby’s tiny hand.

Hilton shared that her family found out about her the birth of her son just before she took to social media.

Paris has already fully entered motherhood and said her son’s privacy and safety is her priority: “I want to protect him and to be with him every second,” she said. “You have this mother instinct that kicks in, which I’ve never had before. I feel so complete now.”

Although the pop culture icon has not revealed any more details about her and Reum’s son – including his name – she did share that she loves to sing “the acoustic version” of her song “Stars Are Blind” to him.

Paris Hilton took to social media in January that she welcomed her first child via surrogate. (Dan Boczarski/NBC)

As for more children in Hilton’s future, she explained that she is “more interested in babies than billions,” before sharing that she recently retrieved her seventh egg.

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Hilton also gushed about her marriage to Reum to the outlet. The couple tied the knot at her grandfather’s estate in Bel Air in November 2021.

Paris Hilton and Carter Reum began dating in 2019. (Kevin Mazur)

She said that Reum is not her “usual type” but that seems to help their relationship work. “He’s not famous. He’s smart. He comes from a nice family. He’s a good person,” she said. “It was the opposite of what I had been used to when I was looking for guys.”

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Prior to their relationship – which started in 2019 – Hilton said she considered herself asexual because “anything sexual terrified” her.

Paris and Carter married in November 2021 at her grandfather’s estate in Bel Air. (Paris Hilton)

“I was known as a sex symbol, but … I called myself the ‘kissing bandit’ because I only liked to make out,” Hilton elaborated. “A lot of my relationships didn’t work out because of that.”

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Now, she explained that she enjoys “hooking up with” her husband and said, “It wasn’t until Carter that I finally am not that way.”

New Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales has hired his brother-in-law for a top position paying a six-figure salary, in a move that has drawn criticism as crossing an ethical line.

Shawn Grady began working as the co-director of the office’s Auto Dealer Services Division on Feb. 6, Deputy Secretary of State Jerold Bonnet told The Indianapolis Star. Grady previously worked as a sales consultant at a car dealership in southern Indiana and is married to Morales’ sister.

While critics raised questions of nepotism in the hiring, state law doesn’t prohibit state employees from hiring brothers-in-law or sisters-in-law.

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The hiring represents another controversy for Morales, a Republican who took office Jan. 1 after winning election despite twice being ousted from low-level jobs in that office and allegations that he possibly committed voter fraud while running for a congressional seat in 2018.

Bonnet said Grady was recommended for the job “as a person with more than 5 years’ experience in auto dealer operations and extensive management experience.”

The Auto Dealer Services Division has previously had a single director, but Grady was hired as its co-director with a $108,000 salary along with Kyle Bonick, an attorney who was previously the division’s deputy director, The Star reported.

Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales appointed his brother-in-law to a top department position. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Bonnet said the office determined the responsibilities of the role are best met by two directors “due to the diversity and complexity of evolving agency duties with respect to motor vehicle consumers, manufacturers, distributors, dealers, resellers, and salvagers.”

One is an attorney who will focus on registration, licensing, investigation and enforcement, Bonnet said. The other, he said, is “an individual with industry experience, focused on consumer issues, dealer training and compliance, administration of the Indiana Motor Vehicle Sales Advisory Board, and mediation of manufacturer-dealer disputes.”

Grady did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday from The Associated Press.

Even though the hiring doesn’t violate the state’s nepotism law, “when you give the appearance of impropriety, it could cause problems,” said Paul Helmke, an Indiana University civics professor and former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne.

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Helmke suggested that the secretary of state’s office could have sought a formal opinion from the state ethics commission before hiring Grady.

“It might not be a technical violation but when you’re talking about taxpayer dollars being used to pay for somebody’s position, you want to make it clear that somebody’s not getting favorable treatment because of that relationship,” Helmke said.

Indiana Democratic Party chairman Mike Schmuhl criticized Morales for “hiring people for the personal gain of himself and his family.”

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“This kind of nepotism erodes trust in government and compromises the ability of public officials to serve Hoosiers transparently and effectively,” Schmuhl said in a statement.

The nation’s first 911 emergency call was placed by an Alabama state politician on this day in history, Feb. 16, 1968. 

The landmark moment came four years after the shocking unreported murder of a New York City woman proved to many Americans the need for a standard and easy-to-use system to call for emergency assistance. 

“Senator Rankin Fite completed the first 911 call made in the United States in Haleyville, Alabama,” writes NENA.org, the website of the National Emergency Number Association.

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“The serving telephone company was then Alabama Telephone Company. This Haleyville 911 system is still in operation today.”

Before the advent of 911, people had to make a direct call to local emergency services, a nearby police station or a firehouse, most likely after sifting through the pages of the phone book — a large tome in major metropolitan areas. 

A studio photo of Catherine “Kitty” Genovese, 28. No help was offered when she was knifed on Austin Street in Kew Gardens, Queens, in a crime that disgraced New York City. The shock over her murder helped lead to the creation of the 911 emergency phone number system.  (NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

They might also dial “0” for operator and ask to be connected to a local service. 

It was an ineffective system. It was often a deadly system. 

Kitty Genovese, 28, was attacked with a knife on the night of March 13, 1964. She bled to death in the stairwell of her Queens apartment, PBS documentary “Independent Lens” reported in 2017. 

Thirty-eight people heard Kitty Genovese cry for help — yet there was no system in place to report an emergency.

Police found that 38 people heard the woman cry for help, The New York Times reported after the murder. 

Yet none apparently called emergency services — or those few who did try to call were unable to reach police or got no response.  

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There was no direct number or other system in place for people to report an emergency. The outcry was intense. 

“While the history is a little more complex than that,” PBS reports, “it’s true that the tragedy was one of the inspirations for the system we know today.”

Denver Police dispatcher Raymond Rowland works at his station on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. The Denver Police Department is considering encrypting all of its radio channels, meaning the public will not be able to listen in via scanners as field officers communicate with dispatchers at the 911 center. (Aaron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

The 911 emergency phone number is now widely used across North America, and is synonymous with “distress” in both the United States and Canada. 

It arose and still exists as the primary and largely effective system to reach emergency services in the United States without an official government mandate or federal law, though officials in Washington, D.C., did help encourage the system. 

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The National Association of Fire Chiefs recommended a universal emergency number for reporting fires in 1957. 

A presidential commission got behind the concept of a universal number for all emergency situations in 1967. 

The National Association of Fire Chiefs recommended a universal emergency number for reporting fires in 1957.

Finally, “in November 1967, the FCC met with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) to find a means of establishing a universal emergency number that could be implemented quickly,” writes NENA.org.

Flames consume a house near Old Oregon Trail as the Fawn Fire burns north of Redding in Shasta County, California, on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

“In 1968, AT&T announced that it would establish the digits 911 (nine-one-one) as the emergency code throughout the United States.”

The 911 combination was chosen for a variety of reasons — two most notably. 

Only half of Americans had access to emergency services by dialing 911 as recently as 1987. 

One, it was easy to remember and quick to call, even on the rotary phones of the era. 

Two, the 911 combination had not been used as an area code, service code or local exchange.

The phone number 911 was, in other words, unique to emergency services and has been ever since. 

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The proliferation of 911 across the country is a fairly recent phenomenon — shockingly recent to many observers.

Only half of Americans had access to emergency services by dialing 911 as recently as 1987, according to NENA. 

The 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, which helped spark the creation of a 911 emergency phone number system, was still front-page news in New York City 31 years later.  (NY Daily News via Getty Images)

“At the end of the 20th century, nearly 93% of the population of the United States was covered by some type of 9-1-1 service. Ninety-five percent of that coverage was Enhanced 911. Approximately 96% of the geographic U.S. is covered by some type of 911.”

The first emergency phone number in the world was 999, introduced in London in 1937, according to World Population Review. 

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Los Angeles established an emergency line — 116 — in 1946, decades before the universal 911 number was established.

Three-digit emergency phone numbers now exist in most nations around the world.

South Korea called North Korea “our enemy” for the first time in six years in its biennial defense document published on Thursday.

The Associated Press reported the document said, “North Korea doesn’t give up its nukes and is persistently posing military threats to us, so the North Korean government and military… is our enemy.”

The country’s description of its rival in defense papers typically reflects the relationship between the two. During past times of animosity, South Korea referred to its neighbor as the “main enemy,” “present enemy” or “enemy.” 

When relations were on better terms, such references were not made.

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North Korean military guard posts, rear, and South Korea posts, bottom, are seen in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s reference to South Korea as “our undoubted enemy” during a speech at a key ruling party meeting in December was also included in the document, as well as a passage of a new North Korean law authorizing preemptive use of nuclear weapons in a broad range of scenarios.

Kim Jong Un was also referred to by only his name – a change from documents issued under former President Moon Jae-in where references included his titles.

The latest defense papers listed the main objectives of South Korea’s defense policies as bracing for threats and a potential invasion by North Korea, adding that its nuclear program and provocations “are seriously threatening our security.” 

Deterring a war on the Korean Peninsula and contributing to a peaceful reunification of the Korean countries are also included in SK’s defense goals.

North Korea did not immediately respond to the revived use of the enemy label, according to The AP. In the past, the North has lashed out at similar terminology by accusing South Korea of demonstrating hostility.

SOUTH KOREA CONSIDERS NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT FOR FIRST TIME IN FACE OF GROWING NORTH KOREA SECURITY THREAT

South Korean army soldiers work by K-9 self-propelled howitzers in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korea first called North Korea its “main enemy” in 1995, a year after the North threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire.” Similar rhetoric has been used repeatedly since then if tensions are heightened.

The South stopped using the enemy terminology in the 2000s during a time of low hostility, but brought it back in 2010 when 50 navy sailors were killed in a torpedo attack attributed to North Korea.

South Korea again avoided referring to North Korea as its enemy when it was governed by Moon from 2017 to 2022, who focused heavily on reconciling with the North. 

Defense documents published during that time did not mention North Korea by name when they said South Korea’s military “considers any force that threatens and violates the sovereignty, territory, people, and properties of the Republic of Korea as an enemy.”

Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May 2022, has promised a stern response to North Korea’s provocations. During his election campaign, he wrote on Facebook that SK’s “main enemy is North Korea” after it conducted a series of missile tests.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during an interview at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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North Korea conducted more than 90 cruise and ballistic missile tests in 2022, including simulated nuclear attacks on South Korea. The number of tests is the highest on record.

In response, Yoon said he is seeking a stronger security commitment from the U.S and boosting South Korea’s own military capabilities.