Seoul: South Korea's military on Wednesday suspended its loudspeaker broadcasts along the border against North Korea as the Lee Jae-myung administration seeks to mend strained ties with Pyongyang. The halt came a year after the military had resumed such propaganda broadcasts in June last year in response to North Korea's repeated launch of trash-carrying balloons across the heavily fortified border.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the decision was made as part of efforts to fulfill the promise of restoring inter-Korean trust and peace on the Korean Peninsula. A Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official confirmed the suspension, while a military official noted that the campaign was halted in accordance with "orders from above," without providing further details.
The move follows the inauguration of President Lee Jae-myung, who has pledged to suspend anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns and loudspeaker broadcasts as part of his strategy to improve the frayed inter-Korean relations. Earlier this week, JCS indicated that the suspension of loudspeaker broadcasts would depend on North Korea's actions, while emphasizing that the broadcasts are conducted "in a flexible manner in conjunction with the strategic and operational situation."
The military initially resumed the campaign in June last year, during the former Yoon Suk Yeol government, after employing it sporadically following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in 2016. Despite South Korea's suspension, the military has noted that North Korea continues to conduct its own loudspeaker broadcasts day and night, although it has not launched trash-carrying balloons since November last year.
In a related development, South Korea's unification ministry, which oversees inter-Korean affairs, expressed regret over anti-Pyongyang leafleting by a group of abductee families, emphasizing the importance of peace-building and public safety. This marks the first time the ministry has called for a halt to leaflet campaigns since the Constitutional Court deemed the law banning them unconstitutional in September 2023, citing freedom of expression.
Despite these efforts, it remains uncertain if North Korea will respond positively to South Korea's conciliatory gestures, as Pyongyang has consistently described inter-Korean relations as those between "two states hostile to each other."