North Korea Prepares to Restart Propaganda Loudspeakers as Ties With South Deteriorate
Seven Lights
Image: Al Jazeera.
Propaganda loudspeakers aimed at South Korea will be ready to restart within days along the entire border, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA on Thursday, a day after she said the loudspeakers would be in operation along the whole border from some time in October, according to the Guardian and Sky News.
If the broadcasts resume, they would be the first loudspeaker exchange across the border in 16 months, the Guardian reported: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung suspended broadcasts from the southern side days into his presidency in June 2025 to ease tensions, and South Korean forces dismantled the speakers that August. A South Korean defence ministry spokesperson said in Seoul on Thursday that if North Korea goes ahead, “naturally there would have to be a proportional measure,” but made clear no decision had been made, the Guardian said. South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said routine maintenance of the North’s loudspeakers had been observed before Kim Yo-jong’s statements, and Al Jazeera reported that Seoul is urging dialogue.
Tensions have risen since September, when a landmine blast south of the military demarcation line injured three South Korean soldiers, two of them seriously; Seoul and the UN command concluded it was a North Korean anti-personnel mine and an armistice violation, while Pyongyang denied responsibility and called the incident a “self-staged farce,” the Guardian reported. Kim Yo-jong inspected fortification points along the border on Wednesday with marshal Pak Jong-chon, saying the border had been “clearly blocked and turned into a fortress more thoroughly,” and that Kim Jong-un had told her it “should be a permanent line never to be crossed,” according to the Guardian. Sky News reported the planned broadcasts target South Korea along the heavily armed border.