South Korea’s military said on Saturday it observed North Korea‘s troops dismantling some border propaganda loudspeakers aimed at the South, mirroring recent actions by Seoul.
This is the first time Seoul has made such a statement since Lee Jae Myung became president two months ago and South Korea began dismantling its own speakers.
The military said further confirmation was needed on whether the dismantling was taking place across all areas, adding it would continue monitoring related activities.
Seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang, Lee’s liberal government, which replaced a conservative one, switched off propaganda broadcasts criticising the North Korean regime soon after Lee took office.
On Monday, South Korean authorities began removing loudspeakers blaring anti-North Korea broadcasts along the country’s border, as Lee revives stalled dialogue between the longtime arch-rivals.
The countries remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, and relations have deteriorated in the last few years.
Propaganda Loudspeakers
Propaganda broadcast through loudspeakers across the border has been used by both sides as relations between South and North Korea have ebbed and flowed over the years.
In 2018, the then-President Moon Jae-in dismantled the loudspeakers as his administration agreed to stop every hostile act that could be a source of military tensions.
But last year, former conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol restarted propaganda broadcasts and blasts of K-pop music in retaliation for North Korea sending balloons to the South filled with trash amid heightened tensions.
Since Seoul suspended its own loudspeaker broadcasts in June, North Korea appears to have stopped its broadcasts, which had disturbed South Korean border residents for months, officials in the South say.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, recently said, however, that South Korea’s decision to stop the broadcasts was “not the work worthy of appreciation”.
(With inputs from Reuters)
