South Korea Stops Propaganda Broadcast With Loudspeakers Directed To North Korea

Installation of speakers in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. (Source: Joint Press Corps)

JAKARTA - South Korea said on Wednesday its military had stopped broadcasting propaganda via loudspeakers along the border with North Korea, as part of President Lee Jae-myung's new government's efforts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The broadcast resumed in June last year after a six-year hiatus under President Lee's predecessor, Yoon Suk-yeol, who took a hardline stance on Pyongyang, in response to the launch of a balloon transporting the Ginseng Country's garbage.

The South Korean military said the shutdown was aimed at helping "recover trust in inter-Korean relations and achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula."

A spokesman for the Presidential Office, Kang Yu-jung, told reporters late Wednesday that President Lee ordered the military to suspend broadcasts through loudspeakers given the recent "no major provocation from North Korea".

"This is intended to reduce military confrontation between the two Koreas and open the door to rebuild mutual trust," he said, quoted by The Korea Times on June 12.

Pyongyang flew thousands of garbage-carrying balloons across the border between May and November last year, in retaliation for South Korean activists sending anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border.

Earlier this week, South Korea's Unification Ministry urged activists to stop distributing the leaflets, saying it was increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and endangering the lives and safety of residents in border areas. The ministry has previously allowed such activities.