South Korea ratchets up psywar tactics against North

SEOUL—South Korea is preparing to escalate its psychological warfare operations against North Korea in response to its latest nuclear test.

South Korea has already set up walls of loudspeakers on the border that have been blaring bursts of anti-North Korean slogans and K-pop music since Friday, a tactic the North considers insulting.

South Korea’s defense ministry said on Thursday it was preparing to reinstall old electronic bulletin boards —resembling scoreboards at sports stadiums—which the local media said were last used in 2004.

The bulletin boards in the past carried slogans such as “Come over to the Republic of Korea,” South Korea’s official name, and “North Korea is a difficult place.”

President Park Geun-hye said on Wednesday the loudspeaker broadcasts against North Korea were “the most effective tool for psychological warfare.”

“According to defectors who served on the North’s front line, they first didn’t trust what the loudspeakers broadcast. But they came to believe it then crossed the border, risking their lives,” Park said in a televised speech. “The power of truth is the strongest threat to a totalitarian regime.”

South Korea’s loudspeakers were Seoul’s initial retaliation to the North’s fourth nuclear test last week.