North Korea begins dismantling border loudspeakers after South Korea's move

Seoul, Aug 9 (IANS) North Korea on Saturday began dismantling some loudspeakers installed along the border for noise campaigns against South Korea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, just days after the South completed removing border loudspeakers to reduce inter-Korean tension.

On Tuesday, South Korea completed dismantling its anti-Pyongyang loudspeakers along the heavily fortified border, after suspending propaganda broadcasts critical of the North on June 11 in line with President Lee Jae Myung's efforts to mend strained ties with the North.

"Activities by the North Korean military removing loudspeakers against South Korea have been detected in parts of the front-line area since Saturday morning," the JCS said in a notice to reporters.

The military said further verification is needed as to whether it will take place in all border areas, vowing to continue to monitor relevant movements by the North Korean military, Yonhap news agency reported.

North Korea has long bristled against the military's loudspeaker broadcasts and leaflets sent by activists over fears of outside information that could pose a threat to its ruling regime.

But under the former conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration, South Korea turned on the loudspeaker campaign for the first time in six years in June last year as Pyongyang launched thousands of trash-carrying balloons across the border. Seoul had previously conducted the campaign on an on-and-off basis following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in 2016.

Since taking office in June, Lee has taken measures to revive inter-Korean ties that remain severed since the North declared in late 2023 that the two Koreas are two separate "hostile" countries and moved to dismantle symbols of inter-Korean relations and unification.

In addition to halting the military's loudspeaker broadcasts, Lee has called on civic groups to suspend their distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets, expressing hope that the reconciliatory gestures could pave the way for engagement with the North.

Most recently, Seoul pushed back around half of some 40 field training exercises planned as part of the annual South Korea-US combined Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise set to take place later this month to September, citing "multiple factors."

The decision came after North Korea denounced joint drills between the allies and accused the South of "blindly adhering" to its alliance with Washington. In response, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, South Korea's top point man on North Korea, said he will propose adjusting the combined military exercise to Lee.

--IANS

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