2 Koreas take down propaganda speakers
A worker dismantles loudspeakers that were set up for propaganda broadcasts near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju yesterday. South Korea silenced its battery of giant loudspeakers that blast messages at the North’s soldiers on the border, in a conciliatory gesture after the historic inter-Korea summit.
SEOUL (Reuters) — North and South Korea began dismantling loudspeakers that blared propaganda across their heavily fortified border yesterday, South Korea’s defense ministry said, fulfilling a promise made at last week’s historic summit.
The moves are the first practical – if small – steps toward reconciliation after last Friday’s meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Along the border, South Korea started taking down its loudspeakers yesterday afternoon, according to a defense official. Activity at several spots along the border indicated North Koreans were doing the same, he said.
For decades, with only a few breaks, the two sides have pumped out propaganda from huge banks of speakers as a form of psychological warfare. South Korea broadcast a mixture of news, K-pop songs and criticism of the northern regime, while North Korea blasted the southern government and praised its own socialist system.
As a sign of goodwill, the South had stopped its propaganda ahead of the summit, and the North followed suit.
The incremental steps come amid speculation about where Kim will meet US President Donald Trump, who said their planned summit could take place in three or four weeks.
Moon, meanwhile, asked that the United Nations help verify North Korea’s planned shutdown of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site in a phone conversation yesterday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a statement from the presidential Blue House said.
Guterres said the requests need approval from the UN Security Council, but he wanted to cooperate to build peace on the Korean peninsula and would assign a UN official in charge of arms control to cooperate with South Korea, the statement said.