South Korea turns off propaganda loudspeakers to North

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - SINGAPORE — South Korea's military says it has suspended its loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the border to North Korea, as part of a bid to "restore trust" between both countries.

The move comes a week after the country elected its new president Lee Jae-myung, who had campaigned on improving inter-Korean ties.

Pyongyang considers the loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts an act of war and has threatened to blow them up in the past.

They were previously paused for six years but resumed in June last year in response to Pyongyang's campaign of sending rubbish-filled balloons across the border to the South.

In recent years, the broadcasts have included news from both Koreas and abroad as well as information on democracy and life in the South.

Ties between North and South Korea had deteriorated under the previous president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was more hawkish towards Pyongyang.

Yoon was impeached and removed from his post for briefly placing South Korea under martial law in December, citing supposed threats from anti-state forces and North Korea sympathizers.

His successor, Lee, had campaigned on a series of pledges, including one to restart dialogue with Pyongyang and to reduce tensions between both countries.

The move aims to "restore trust in inter-Korean relations and achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula", the military said in a statement.

But organizations advocating to improve the human rights of North Koreans have criticized the suspension.

"The loudspeakers were a vital bridge to the North Korean people, a reminder that they are not forgotten. By turning them off, we've only strengthened Kim Jong Un's efforts to keep his people isolated", said Hana Song, the Executive Director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, based in Seoul.

"The fact that one of the new government's first actions is to turn off the loudspeakers is a troubling sign," she added. "It suggests we're returning to the days of appeasing the North Korean regime."

But residents living along the border have welcomed the move. They have for months complained that their lives have been blighted by the noise of the loudspeakers coming from both the South and North, sometimes in the middle of the night.

One border region, Ganghwa county, said in a statement: "We hope this decision will lead to an end to North Korea's noise-based psychological warfare, allowing our residents to return to their normal daily lives."

According to a report by the Yonhap news agency, the military's decision also took into account the fact that the North has no longer been sending rubbish-filled balloons across the border.

However, by suspending instead of terminating the broadcasts, the military is signalling that the speakers could be fired up again if needed, adds Yonhap.

Seoul claims the broadcasts can be heard as much as 10km (6.2 miles) across the border in the day and up to 24km (15 miles) at night.

The suspension comes almost exactly a year after they were first resumed in June 2024 - when both countries had engaged in various retaliatory campaigns involving rubbish and propaganda balloons.

Reuniting with the South had always been a key, if increasingly unrealistic, part of the North's ideology since the inception of the state - until Kim abandoned the idea earlier last year.

Both countries are technically still at war since the Korean War ended in 1953 without a peace treaty. — BBC