- South Korea’s military said it suspected North Korea was installing its own loudspeakers along the border after South Korea broadcast loud anti-Pyongyang propaganda.
- It is the latest in a series of escalating tensions that has seen North Korea send more than 1,000 balloons filled with garbage and fertiliser to South Korea.
- The United States and South Korea are meeting to discuss a nuclear deterrence strategy to counter the growing threat from North Korea.
South Korea’s military said Monday it had detected signs that North Korea was installing its own loudspeakers along the heavily armed border, a day after South Korea blasted anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers for the first time in years in a Cold War-style psychological war between the two countries.
South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts on Sunday in retaliation for North Korea’s launching of more than 1,000 balloons filled with garbage and fertilizer in recent weeks. North Korea described the balloon campaign as retaliation for South Korean groups using balloons to send anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border. North Korea has long condemned such activities as it is highly sensitive to any outside criticism of Kim Jong Un’s dictatorial rule.
The exchange of loudspeakers and balloons has deepened tensions between the two Koreas as talks over North Korea’s nuclear program reach an impasse.
South Korea remains on alert for further North Korean trash balloons after declaring retaliation
During recent nuclear talks in Seoul, U.S. and South Korean officials reviewed private guidelines outlining a nuclear deterrence strategy to counter the growing threat from North Korea. They also discussed strengthening joint military training between the allies that would include U.S. strategic assets, participants told a news conference.
Asked to assess the threat posed by North Korea’s balloon activity, South Korea’s Vice Minister for Defense Policy Cho Chang-rae and U.S. Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Bipin Narang both declined to comment specifically.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff did not immediately comment on how many of the suspected North Korean speakers had been spotted or where along the border they were located. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the speakers were still not making any noise as of Monday afternoon.
South Korean soldiers dismantle a loudspeaker installed for propaganda broadcasting near the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea in Paju, South Korea, on May 1, 2018. (Kim Hong-ji/Pool Photo via AP, File)
South Korea turned on loudspeakers on Sunday to make its first broadcast to North Korea, which reportedly included news, criticism of the North Korean government and South Korean pop music.
Hours later on Sunday, Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister warned that South Korea had created “the harbinger of a very dangerous situation.” If North Korea continues its broadcasts and fails to stop civilian activists from dropping anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border, South Korea could see an unspecified “new reaction” from North Korea, she said.
“We sternly warn Seoul to immediately stop dangerous activities that further provoke the risk of conflict,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement released by state media.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Seong-jun said Kim’s comments represented an intensification of verbal threats from North Korea but gave no specific assessment of what actions the North might take. He said South Korean troops were broadcasting from locations where soldiers were well protected and equipped to swiftly retaliate if attacked.
“I don’t think they can provoke us so easily,” Lee said at a news conference on Monday.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff did not say where on the border Sunday’s broadcast took place or what was broadcast over the loudspeakers, saying any additional broadcasts would “depend entirely on North Korea’s actions.”
South Korea removed loudspeakers from the border area in 2018 during a brief period of negotiations with North Korea under the previous liberal government.
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South Korea’s presidential office decided to resume loudspeaker broadcasts, accusing North Korea of trying to cause “anxiety and confusion” in South Korea and stressing that Pyongyang would “take full responsibility” for any further escalation of tensions.
North Korea said the balloon campaign came after South Korean activists sent balloons filled with anti-North Korea leaflets and USB sticks loaded with popular South Korean songs and dramas. Analysts say Pyongyang is highly sensitive about such supplies, fearing they could undermine morale among front-line soldiers and civilians and ultimately weaken leader Kim Jong Un’s grip on power.
When South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts in 2015 for the first time in 11 years, North Korea fired artillery shells across the border, prompting South Korea to fire back, according to South Korean officials. No casualties were reported.
