South Korea to remove propaganda loudspeakers at border

South Korea will remove propaganda-broadcasting loudspeakers from the border with North Korea this week, officials said today, as the rivals move to follow through with their leaders' summit declaration that produced reconciliation steps without a breakthrough in the nuclear standoff.

During their historic meeting Friday at a Korean border village, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to end hostile acts against each other along their tense border, establish a liaison office and resume reunions of separated families.

They also agreed to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, but failed to produce specific time frames and disarmament steps.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said it would pull back dozens of its front-line loudspeakers on Tuesday before media cameras. Ministry spokeswoman Choi
US National Security Adviser John Bolton reacted coolly to word that Kim would abandon his weapons if the United States pledged not to invade. Asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" whether the US would make such a promise, Bolton said: "Well, we've heard this before. This is the North Korean propaganda playbook is an infinitely rich resource. What we want to see from them is evidence that it's real and not just rhetoric."