South Korea begins removing border propaganda speakers in conciliatory gesture toward North

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military said Monday it had begun removing loudspeakers along its border with rival North Korea in a move aimed at reducing tensions.

The speakers had previously been used to blast anti-North Korean propaganda across the border, but the South’s new liberal government halted the broadcasts in June in a conciliatory gesture as it looks to rebuild trust and revive dialogue with Pyongyang, which has largely cut off cooperation with the South in recent years.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the physical removal of the loudspeakers from the border was another “practical measure” aimed at easing tensions between the war-divided Koreas and that it does not affect the South’s military readiness.

Lee Kyung-ho, a spokesperson for the ministry, didn’t share specific details on how the removed loudspeakers will be stored or whether they could be quickly redeployed to the border if tensions flare again between the Koreas. There were no discussions between the two militaries ahead of the South’s decision to remove the speakers, Lee said during a briefing.

North Korea, which is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its authoritarian leadership and its third-generation ruler, Kim Jong Un, didn’t immediately comment on the South Korean step.

The South’s previous conservative government resumed the daily loudspeaker broadcasts in June last year following a yearslong pause in retaliation for North Korea flying trash-laden balloons toward the South in a psychological warfare campaign.

The speakers blasted propaganda messages and K-pop songs, a playlist clearly designed to strike a nerve in Pyongyang, where Kim’s government has been intensifying a campaign to eliminate the influence of South Korean pop culture and language among the population in a bid to strengthen his family’s dynastic rule.

The Cold War-style psychological warfare campaigns further heightened tensions already inflamed by North Korea’s advancing nuclear program and South Korean efforts to expand joint military exercises with the United States and their trilateral security cooperation with Japan.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, a liberal who took office in June after winning an early election to replace ousted conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, has vowed to improve relations with Pyongyang, which reacted furiously to Yoon’s hard-line policies and shunned dialogue.

But Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North Korean leader, rebuffed overtures by Lee’s government last week, saying that Seoul’s “blind trust” in the country’s alliance with the U.S. and hostility toward North Korea make it no different from its conservative predecessor. Her comments implied that North Korea — now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia over the war in Ukraine – feels no urgency to resume diplomacy with Seoul and Washington anytime soon.