South Korea hits mute, dismantles loudspeakers to ease tensions w/ N Korea

South Korea in a bid to improve relations with neighbour, Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, has begun removing loudspeakers blaring anti-North Korea broadcasts along the country’s border.

Lee Kyung-ho, Vice Spokesperson for the South Korean Defense Ministry declared this as a practical measure aimed at easing tensions between the two Koreas. Adding that this will be done without affecting South Korea’s military readiness.

The broadcasts were initially meant as a response to the barrage of trash-filled balloons flown southward by North Korea last year. But new Korean President Lee Jae-myung halted the broadcasts in June as he looked to revive dialogue with Pyongyang.

Beyond the propaganda messages, the speakers were also used to blast K-pop songs. Mainly because Kim’s government has been intensifying a campaign to eliminate the influence of South Korean pop culture and language among its population.

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But chances of North Korea being swayed by the move look slim. Kim Yo Jong, the highly influential sister of the North Korean leader, rejected pursuing dialogue with Lee’s government last week She decried Seoul’s “blind trust” in the country’s alliance with the US. Furthermore she added that the South’s hostility toward North Korea makes it no different from its conservative predecessor.

Remember, the two countries are technically still at war. This is because the 1950-53 Korean war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Relations have especially deteriorated in the last few years given Pyongyang’s increasing closeness to Moscow in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.