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| South Korean soldiers take out loudspeakers near the Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in September 2004, following an agreement reached by North Korea and South Korea. / Korea Times file |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Loudspeakers on the South's side of the inter-Korean border are used as psychological weapons to hit North Koreans with anti-Pyongyang propaganda. However, they have been used in a more conciliatory fashion during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, delivering Olympic news over the border.
Usually the operators send South Korean news in two-minute slots, but these have been increased to five minutes, according to Rep. Kim Hack-yong of Liberty Korea Party and Rep. Rhee Cheol-hee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. They are members of the National Assembly National Defense Committee.
During the increased news time, the South's psychological military bureau reported on the joint entrance by the two Koreas in the Olympics' opening ceremony, Feb. 5, and the women's joint ice hockey team.
The loudspeakers also delivered news about the visit by the North Korean music troupe Samjiyeon, led by Hyon Song-wol, which performed at the Gangneung Art Center, Feb. 8, and the National Theater of Korea in Seoul, Feb. 11.
The historic meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and special envoy Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the North's nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam was also reported. The North Koreans made a three-day visit to the South arriving Feb. 9, and visiting Cheong Wa Dae and the National Theater of Korea together with Moon.
The loudspeakers also broadcast reports of Kim Jong-un's surprise invitation for Moon to visit Pyongyang for a summit, which was passed on by Kim Yo-jong during her visit.
The lawmakers said the extended time was reserved for news less threatening to the North. The strategic manipulation of news queues naturally reduced the time for South Korea's anti-Pyongyang propaganda against the North's system of government, while promoting that of the South.
The psychological military bureau was cited by lawmakers as saying it "did not change the loudspeakers' activation period or volume."
There are 30 fixed loudspeakers right behind the military demarcation line (MDL) in the South, 10 old and 20 new. The late former President Roh Moo-hyun deactivated them in June 2004 according to an agreement reached by the two Koreas. But following the explosion of a North Korean mine on the South side of the border that wounded a South Korean soldier in August 2015, then-President Park Geun-hye reactivated them
There are also loudspeakers on the North's side fulfilling a similar purpose.
In his speech in Berlin in July 2017, Moon proposed to deactivate the speakers on both sides of the border, failed to get a response from the North.
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