Seoul Initiates Removal of Anti-North Korea Propaganda Loudspeakers, Signaling a New Policy under President Lee’s Administration
South Korean authorities have commenced the process of removing loudspeakers that have been broadcasting anti-North Korea messages along the border. This move comes as part of the new government’s efforts under President Lee Jae-myung to ease tensions with Pyongyang.
“Starting today, the military is initiating the removal of the loudspeakers,” announced Lee Kyung-ho, the spokesperson for South Korea’s Defence Ministry, on Monday.
Following President Lee’s inauguration in June, his administration has halted propaganda broadcasts critical of the North Korean regime. This decision reflects the government’s aim to re-establish dialogue with its neighbor.
However, North Korea has recently dismissed these overtures, stating that they have no interest in engaging in talks with South Korea.
The two countries are technically still at war as the 1950-53 Korean War concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. Over the past few years, their relationship has deteriorated.
“This is a practical measure aimed at helping to ease tensions with the North, provided that such actions do not compromise the military’s state of readiness,” the Defence Ministry stated on Monday.
By the end of the week, all loudspeakers set up along the border will be dismantled, though the exact number to be removed was not disclosed.
President Lee, who recently assumed office after his predecessor was impeached over a failed attempt to declare martial law, has instructed the military to halt the broadcasts in an effort to “restore trust.”
In recent years, relations between the two Koreas have reached one of their lowest points. Seoul adopted a hard-line stance towards Pyongyang, which has increasingly aligned itself with Russia following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The previous government introduced the broadcasts in response to North Korea sending a barrage of trash-filled balloons towards the south.
Nevertheless, President Lee has committed to improving relations with North Korea and reducing tensions in the Korean Peninsula.
Despite Lee’s diplomatic overtures, North Korea has shown no interest in pursuing dialogue with its neighbor.
“”If the ROK [Republic of Korea] … expected that it could reverse all the results it had made with a few sentimental words, nothing is [a] more serious miscalculation …,” stated Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, last week.
President Lee has expressed his readiness to seek talks with North Korea without any preconditions, following a period of deep freeze under his predecessor.
