North Korea to Resume Border Propaganda Broadcasts Against South Korea
Kim Yo Jong announced that loudspeaker broadcasts will resume this month amid escalating border friction following recent land mine explosions.
At a glance
- North Korea announced it will reactivate psychological warfare loudspeakers along the border before the end of October.
- The move follows a Sept. 21 border land mine explosion that wounded three South Korean front-line soldiers.
- South Korea warned of proportionate countermeasures while North Korea continues fortification work along the boundary.
North Korea will resume anti-Seoul propaganda broadcasts using front-line loudspeakers before the end of October, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, announced this week following an inspection of front-line border positions.
Kim, a key spokesperson on relations with Washington and Seoul, said tactical units are taking new positions and border loudspeakers will be placed on standby within days. She also warned that North Korean guards would react forcefully if South Korean warning shots endanger North Korean soldiers carrying out fortification projects along the frontier.
Escalating Border Tensions
Tensions between the two countries have intensified following a Sept. 21 incident in which land mine explosions injured three South Korean border troops. A joint assessment by Seoul and the U.S.-led United Nations Command determined that North Korea planted the explosives. Pyongyang denied involvement and warned of retaliation if provoked.
South Korea's military stated that North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line roughly 50 times this year while building anti-tank walls, laying mines, and erecting barbed wire fences, drawing warning shots and broadcast warnings from the South. North Korean Marshal Pak Jong Chon rejected accusations that troops crossed the border, asserting that North Korean personnel know the demarcation line well.
In response to Kim Yo Jong's statements, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson Chung Binna said Seoul would prepare proportionate measures, though specific details were not disclosed. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Jin Yong-Sung, denounced the warnings as intolerable and instructed the armed forces to react sternly to any North Korean provocations.
Loudspeaker broadcasts represent a long-standing psychological warfare method between the Koreas. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's administration halted the South's broadcasts last year to rebuild relations, after which the North also suspended operations. Tensions have since escalated as Kim Jong Un severed diplomatic outreach with Seoul, officially designating South Korea as a hostile adversary amid stalled negotiations with Washington.
Source: NPR News.
Questions and answers
- Why is North Korea resuming loudspeaker broadcasts?
- North Korea is reviving the psychological warfare tactic amid rising tensions over its border fortification projects and following September land mine explosions that injured South Korean soldiers.
- How did South Korea respond to the announcement?
- South Korea's Defense Ministry said it would take proportionate measures, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Jin Yong-Sung ordered troops to sternly counter any North Korean provocations.
