Seoul, South Korea – The South Korean Defense Ministry said on Monday that the army has begun dismantling loudspeakers intended for propaganda broadcasts towards North Korea that were installed along the border with Pyongyang.
The ministry explained that this step comes within the framework of practical measures to ease tensions between the two Koreas without affecting the readiness of the army.
The number of fixed speakers scheduled to be dismantled is about 20 units, and their dismantling is expected to be completed within two or three days, Yonhap News Agency reported.
In June, Seoul announced that it would stop broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda over loudspeakers along the border between the two countries.
After Seoul’s announcement, the South Korean military clarified that North Korea had apparently suspended the counter-broadcast. At the time, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South Korean Armed Forces said that no North Korean loudspeaker broadcasts towards South Korea had been detected in any area, and that the military was closely monitoring relevant North Korean movements.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry said North Korea’s suspension of loudspeaker radio broadcasts along the inter-Korean border represented a “valuable opportunity” to restore mutual trust between the two sides.
It is noteworthy that South Korea had resumed broadcasting via loudspeakers in June 2024 after a hiatus that lasted for years, in response to the balloons loaded with waste that North Korea is launching towards its southern neighbor in a psychological warfare campaign.
