Ahead of Peace Talks, South Korea Shuts Down Propaganda Loudspeakers
Just days before peace talks are scheduled to take place between the two countries, South Korea has turned off the loudspeakers that broadcast propaganda along its border with North Korea.
According to the BBC, the broadcasts, which included everything from K-pop music to reports that criticized the North, stopped playing early Monday morning.
The broadcasts would normally be heard by North Korea’s troops and some of its citizens living in the area.
South Korea spokesman Choi Hoi-hyun told reporters that officials hoped the move would “ease the military tension between the two Koreas and develop a peaceful summit atmosphere.”
“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,” he said.
The broadcasts have been running on and off since the Korean War in an effort to persuade North Korean soldiers to question what their government is telling them.
South Korea didn’t say whether or not they would restart the broadcasts after talks take place with the North.
North Korea also has a system of loudspeakers along the border, which plays reports critical of South Korea and its allies. There has been no word yet as to whether or not the North will follow the South’s lead and turn off its own broadcasts.
The South’s border silence comes just days after North Korea announced it would suspend nuclear tests and close an atomic test site.
As reported by The Western Journal, upcoming talks between the rogue regime and both South Korea and the U.S. could represent a step in the right direction toward North Korea’s complete denuclearization.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in remains optimistic about the North’s alleged willingness to forgo hostilities, saying that demands from North Korea’s Kim Jong Un do not include deal-breakers that might stall a planned summit between the North Korean leader and U.S. President Donald Trump.
“They have not attached any conditions that the U.S. cannot accept, such as the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea,” Moon said.
In years past, North Korea’s demand that American troops leave the region had effectively stalled talks, but Moon maintained that this time around, things are different.
“All they are expressing is the end of hostile policies against North Korea, followed by a guarantee of security,” he said.
Moon and Kim are set to meet Friday in the South Korean section of a border village called Panmunjom. The meeting will be the first inter-Korean summit to occur in over a decade.
Kim is set to talk with Trump in person by June. That will be the first time sitting leaders of the U.S. and North Korea officially meet.
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