South Korea resumes broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda at border

ABC NEWS (Australia)

South Korea resumed broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda through loudspeakers in retaliation for the more than 1,000 trash and manure-filled balloons the North had sent over the last couple of weeks.

Transcript

00:00 Military loudspeakers primed and ready to blare anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop

00:10 music towards North Korea.

00:12 Seoul restarted the broadcasts over the weekend for the first time since 2015.

00:16 "The measures we will take may be unbearable for the North Korean regime, but they will

00:23 send a message of hope and light to the North's troops and its people."

00:27 The move can be traced to late May, when Pyongyang began sending balloons full of trash and manure

00:33 towards the South.

00:35 It says it was retaliation for balloons filled with anti-North leaflets and USBs flown by

00:40 South Korean activists.

00:42 "We once again gravely warn North Korea to immediately halt their inhuman, low-level

00:50 and nasty activity which violates the armistice agreement."

00:55 In response, South Korea suspended a 2018 pact to reduce hostile acts along the border,

01:01 allowing it to resume propaganda campaigns and possibly restart live-fire military exercises

01:07 in border areas.

01:09 South Koreans who live near the border in the town of Baju fear things could escalate

01:13 again.

01:14 "There is a sense of fear that North Korea might fire artillery towards this area and

01:20 that their shells could come flying towards this place."

01:22 Last week, North Korea did stop sending the balloons, but activists in South Korea didn't.

01:28 Pyongyang's garbage drops resumed, and now the South's loudspeakers are blaring again.

01:33 It sparked an angry warning from Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

01:38 "If the Republic of Korea simultaneously carries out the leaflet scattering and loudspeaker

01:43 broadcasting provocation over the border, it will undoubtedly witness the new counteraction

01:48 of the democratic People's Republic of Korea."

01:52 Locals in Baju are also critical of those sending balloons to the North.

01:57 "The group who send the anti-North leaflets can leave, but we are the ones who end up

02:02 dealing with the aftermath.

02:04 What residents in Baju would like such actions that escalate tensions?"

02:08 While North Korea has been firing off more ballistic missiles in recent weeks in a show

02:12 of military might, for now, there's no sign of live fire at the border, just an exchange

02:17 of trash and noise.

02:19 For more UN videos visit: www.un.org/webcast

02:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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