South Korea halts propaganda broadcasts along border to ease tensions

South Korea's military shut down loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda along the inter-Korean border on Wednesday, marking the new liberal government's first concrete step toward easing tensions between the war-divided rivals.

The South resumed the daily loudspeaker broadcasts in June last year following a years-long pause in retaliation for North Korea flying trash-laden balloons toward the South in a psychological warfare campaign.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said the move, ordered by President Lee Jae-myung, was part of efforts "to restore trust in inter-Korean relations and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula."  Kang Yu-jung, Lee's spokesperson, described the decision as a "proactive step" to reduce military tensions and ease the burden for South Koreans residing in border areas, who have also been affected by North Korea's retaliatory loudspeaker broadcasts.

North Korea, which is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its authoritarian leadership and its third-generation ruler, Kim Jong Un, did not immediately comment on the step by Seoul.

South Korea reactivated its front-line loudspeakers to blast propaganda messages and K-pop songs toward the North last year in response to thousands of trash balloons that Pyongyang flew toward South Korea to drop substances including wastepaper, cloth scraps, cigarette butts and even manure.

From May to November last year, North Korea flew about 7,000 balloons toward South Korea in 32 separate occasions, according to the South's military. The North said that its balloon campaign came after South Korean activists sent over balloons filled with anti-North Korean leaflets, as well as USB sticks filled with popular South Korean songs and dramas.

Trash carried by at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean presidential compound in July, raising concerns about the vulnerability of key South Korean facilities. Officials said that the balloon contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt.

The South's broadcast playlist was 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 added to tensions fuelled by North Korea's growing nuclear ambitions and South Korean efforts to expand joint military exercises with the United States and strengthen three-way security cooperation with Japan.

Efforts to improve relations

Lee, an outspoken liberal who took office last week 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.

During his election campaign, Lee promised to halt the loudspeaker broadcasts, arguing that they created unnecessary tensions and discomfort for South Korean residents in border towns. In recent months, those residents had complained about North Korea's retaliatory broadcasts, which included howling animals, pounding gongs and other irritating sounds. On Thursday morning, South Korea's military said North Korean broadcasts were not heard in South Korean frontline areas, but it was not clear if the North has formally halted its own broadcasts.

In a briefing on Monday, South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, also called for South Korean civilian activists to stop flying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border. Such activities "could heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula and threaten the lives and safety of residents in border areas," said Koo Byoungsam, the ministry's spokesperson.

In his inaugural address last week, Lee vowed to reopen communication channels with North Korea. But prospects for an early resumption of dialogue between the rival Koreas remain dim. North Korea has consistently rejected offers from South Korea and the United States since 2019, when nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang collapsed over sanctions-related disagreements.

The North's nuclear threats remain

North Korea's priority in foreign policy is now firmly with Russia, which has received thousands of North Korean troops and large amounts of military equipment in recent months for its war with Ukraine. South Korean and US officials have expressed concern that Kim in return could seek Russian technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by his nuclear weapons and missile programme.

Yoon, who was removed from office in April over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December, had focused on strengthening military partnerships with Washington and Tokyo and on securing stronger US assurances of a swift and decisive nuclear response to defend the South against a North Korean nuclear attack.

In a fierce reaction to Yoon's policies, Kim declared in January 2024 that he was abandoning the long-standing goals of a peaceful unification with the South and instructed the rewriting of the North's constitution to cement the South as a permanent "principal enemy."  Following years of heightened testing activity, Kim has acquired a broad range of missiles that could potentially target rivals in Asia and the US mainland. He has also called for increased production of nuclear materials to create more bombs.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Monday that the UN nuclear watchdog is monitoring signs that North Korea may be building a new uranium-enrichment plant at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.