South Korea to turn off propaganda loudspeakers to ease military tensions with North Korea

Seoul, April 24: In a gesture of goodwill ahead of the historic talks headed between the two countries’ leaders this week. South Korea has stopped broadcasting propaganda across its border with its counterpart North Korea.

 

For the first time in two years, dozens of huge loudspeakers, which blast out K-pop music, discussions of democracy, and criticism of Pyongyang’s regime, fell silent at midnight on Sunday. The move comes with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in due to meet at ‘truce village’ Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone overlapping the two countries.

However it is not yet clear if Pyongyang, which itself broadcasts praise for its leader and patriotic songs across the border, will reciprocate by silencing its speakers.

“We hope this decision will lead both Koreas to stop mutual criticism and propaganda against each other and also contribute in creating peace and a new beginning,” Seoul’s defence ministry said.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in has called it "a significant decision towards total denuclearization of the Korean peninsula". Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong-un is due to meet Mr Moon next Friday at the truce village of Panmunjom, marking the first inter-Korean summit in over a decade.

Mr Kim is also due to meet US President Donald Trump by June. It will be the first ever meeting between two sitting leaders of North Korea and the US.

Ahead of the scheduled inter-Korean meeting, Pyongyang said it would halt all nuclear and missile tests and scrap its nuclear test site. The announcement marked a remarkable turnaround in tensions after geopolitical uncertainty had been ratcheted up to unprecedented levels when the North carried out its largest-ever nuclear test last year.

The North's move to stop missile and nuclear tests was initially welcomed by President Donald Trump before the U.S. premier then adopted a more guarded stance Sunday.