South Korea halts anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts near border
SEOUL, June 11 (UPI) -- South Korea suspended its propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts across the border to North Korea, officials said Tuesday, in a bid to reduce tensions with Pyongyang under the administration of newly elected President Lee Jae-Myung.
Halting the broadcasts is "a measure to fulfill the public pledge to restore trust in inter-Korean relations and bring peace to the Korean Peninsula," a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said in a text message to reporters.
The move came roughly a year after Seoul resumed the broadcasts in response to a series of provocations by North Korea that included floating thousands of trash-filled balloons across the border.
The broadcasts included news, K-pop music, and information about democracy and life in South Korea. The North responded at times by broadcasting bizarre noises such as metallic screeching and animal sounds, disturbing residents in areas near the DMZ.
Lee ordered the suspensions, his office confirmed later on Tuesday.
Spokeswoman Kang Yoo-jung said in a briefing that Lee "made this decision as a preemptive measure to ease tensions in a situation where there have been no recent major provocations by North Korea."
"This is a measure to ease the military standoff between the South and the North and to open the way to restoring mutual trust."
It was also meant to "alleviate the suffering of residents in border areas who have suffered due to North Korea's noise broadcasts," she said.
Lee, who won a snap election on June 3 to replace impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol, campaigned on improving frayed inter-Korean relations. He vowed to suspend the loudspeaker broadcasts as well as prevent defector groups from floating balloons with anti-Pyongyang leaflets and USB drives containing South Korean media over the border.
On Monday, the Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean relations called for a stop to the leaflet campaigns after an activist group sent balloons in early June.
"We strongly request that the spreading of leaflets be stopped, as this could create tension in the situation on the Korean Peninsula and endanger the lives and safety of the people in the border areas," ministry spokesman Koo Byung-sam said at a press briefing.
Koo said the ministry would work with agencies and related organizations to ensure compliance with existing regulations on leaflet distribution.
The Unification Ministry will also "actively cooperate in discussing amendments to the National Assembly's Inter-Korean Relations Development Act," Koo said.
Defectors and human rights activists have argued that the communications across the border provide a vital source of information about the outside world to North Korean citizens.
The new government's stance is a departure from the Yoon administration, which took a hard line against North Korea and saw relations deteriorate amid a series of back-and-forth Cold War-style provocations in border areas.
Lee has said he would continue to strengthen military cooperation with the United States but pledged to reopen communications with Seoul's recalcitrant neighbor.
"We will prepare for North Korea's nuclear weapons and military provocations, while opening channels of communication with North Korea and establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and cooperation," Lee said in a speech at his swearing-in ceremony.
During his campaign, Lee also vowed to restore an inter-Korean military pact aimed at defusing military tensions and avoiding accidental conflicts along the border. It was signed during a period of detente in 2018 but scrapped by both countries last year.
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