SEOUL – North Korea stopped its loudspeaker noise broadcasts into South Korea, a day after South Korea’s military on Wednesday turned off its broadcasts that had blared K-pop and propaganda across the demilitarized zone for over a year. North Korea’s noise broadcasts targeting South Korea were not heard across the entire border area on Thursday, after they were stopped at midnight, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. South Korea will continue to monitor Pyongyang’s activities, he said. South Korea’s move on Wednesday to shut down its loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts into North Korea fulfills a campaign promise of the new South Korean president who favors engagement with Pyongyang. In his inaugural address last week, President Lee Jae-myung – who replaced ousted conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol – promised to improve inter-Korean relations and restart dialogue with Pyongyang, in sharp contrast to Yoon who adopted a more confrontational stance toward the North. Under Yoon, the South Korean military resumed its loudspeaker “Voice of Freedom” broadcasts to North Korea in June last year, ending a six-year hiatus, in retaliation for the North’s campaign to send balloons laden with trash and human waste to the South.
