South Korea’s military has said North Korea has started dismantling some propaganda loudspeakers aimed at the South in parts of the border area, following similar moves by Seoul made in a bid to ease tensions.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t disclose the sites where the North Koreans were removing speakers and said further confirmation was needed as to whether the dismantling was taking place across all areas, adding it would continue monitoring related activities.
“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 military said in a notice to reporters on Saturday.
The announcement is a rare sign of rapprochement between the two Koreas since President Lee Jae Myung became president in June, replacing conservative hardliner Yoon Suk Yeol following his short-lived attempt to impose martial law.
Shortly after Lee took office, his administration switched off propaganda broadcasts criticising the North Korean regime as it looked to revive stalled dialogue with its neighbour. The South Korean military said the North stopped its broadcasts in June too.
A week ago, South Korea then began dismantling its own speakers, which blast a mix of world news and information about democratic and capitalist society alongside K-pop music. The sound is believed to travel more than 20km (12.4 miles) into North Korea.
Previously, South Korean border residents had complained that North Korean speakers blasted irritating sounds, including howling animals and pounding gongs, in a tit-for-tat response to South Korean propaganda broadcasts.
North Korea, which is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its authoritarian leadership and its third-generation ruler, Kim Jong-un, didn’t immediately confirm it was taking down its speakers.
South Korea’s previous conservative government resumed daily loudspeaker broadcasts in June last year, following a years-long pause, in retaliation for North Korea flying rubbish-filled balloons toward the South.
President Lee has taken further measures to improve ties with Pyongyang, urging civic groups to suspend distribution of leaflets criticising the North, and delaying some annual joint military drills with the US taking place in the coming weeks as part of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises.
The two Koreas remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean war ended only in a truce, and relations have deteriorated in the past few years.
With Reuters and Associated Press
