Kim Yo-jong, Director of the General Affairs Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, announced on the 19th that she was considering resuming loudspeaker broadcasts directed at the South, and on the 21st, she foreshadowed that loudspeakers would be activated along the entire border in October. If this operation actually takes place, it would mark the resumption of psychological warfare against the South for the first time in about a year and four months since the two Koreas suspended loudspeaker broadcasts. Given that North Korea has announced the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts in response to the South Korean military's warning broadcasts and warning shots, this is interpreted as an intention to pressure the South into responding and secure the initiative in the border region.
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Inter-Korean loudspeaker broadcasts are a representative means of psychological warfare. They have been utilized to psychologically influence the opposing side by lowering the morale of the opposing military and promoting the superiority of one's own system.
North Korea first began loudspeaker broadcasts in the inter-Korean border area in 1962. The broadcasts were initiated as part of psychological warfare, including the idolization of Kim Jong-il, praise of the North Korean regime, and criticism of South Korean society. The South Korean military responded with loudspeaker broadcasts at the Military Demarcation Line in the West Sea on May 1 of the following year. They broadcast not only criticism of the North Korean regime but also information such as domestic and international news and weather forecasts for North Korea.
It was suspended following the announcement of the July 4 Inter-Korean Joint Statement in 1972, but the South resumed loudspeaker broadcasting in September of that year due to the Rangoon bombing in 1980. On June 4, 2004, the two Koreas removed the loudspeakers through the "Agreement on the Prevention of Accidental Clashes in the West Sea and the Cessation of Propaganda Activities and Removal of Propaganda Means in the Military Demarcation Line Area" (the so-called "June 4 Agreement").
Following the Cheonan sinking in 2010 and North Korea's wooden box landmine provocation in August 2015, South Korea resumed psychological warfare broadcasts targeting the North. However, these were later suspended again through the 'Joint Press Statement on High-Level Inter-Korean Contact' (the so-called 'August 25 Inter-Korean Agreement'). Although South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in 2016, the loudspeakers directed at the North in frontline areas were removed in the wake of the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit and the 'September 19 Military Agreement'.
Starting with North Korea's scattering of garbage balloons in 2024, the South resumed loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North on June 9 of that year, and North Korea also resumed its broadcasts to the South in response. In particular, during this period, North Korea went beyond its existing propaganda for the regime and broadcast repulsive noises, such as ghost sounds and the scraping of metal, for a year. Subsequently, in June of last year, early in the Lee Jae-myung administration, North Korea also stopped its broadcasts as the South's loudspeaker broadcasts were suspended.
As such, loudspeaker broadcasts established themselves as a core tool of psychological warfare, repeatedly being suspended and resumed depending on the tension between the two sides.
North Korea’s recently announced resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts directed at the South is specifically linked to the border fortification work currently underway along the Military Demarcation Line. Kim Yo-jong, Director of the General Affairs Department, shifted the blame to the South, claiming that the South Korean military’s warning broadcasts and warning shots threaten the safety of the North Korean military. Conversely, the South Korean military maintains that it conducts warning broadcasts and warning shots in response to signs of North Korean military intrusions into the Military Demarcation Line.
Experts analyze that North Korea may be attempting to undermine the South Korean military's warning broadcasts and proceed with its border fortification work as planned by resuming loudspeakers directed at the South.
Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, pointed out to Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the 20th, “The South Korean military’s broadcast is not psychological warfare but a warning broadcast to evacuate the site, yet North Korea is framing this as a ‘provocation of loudspeaker warning broadcasts’ and using it as a pretext to resume its own psychological warfare loudspeaker broadcasts.”
Yoo Ji-hoon, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, told RFA on the 22nd, “Loudspeaker broadcasting has the potential to be used as a means to escalate military tensions between the North and South, going beyond mere psychological dimensions.”
“Intention to incite conflict between men”
Research Fellow Yoo further analyzed, “If North Korea resumes loudspeaker broadcasts, it is likely intended to incite hostility toward the South, test the South Korean government’s response, and provoke internal conflict within the South.”
In response to a question regarding Korea's response strategy, he stated, "We must be cautious, as a mechanically proportional response could create greater tension," adding, "Since Korean residents also live in the border areas, it is most important to deliberate on minimizing damage and managing the level of tension."
From North Korea's perspective, broadcasts directed at the South are a means to simultaneously target the South Korean military and residents in border areas. In particular, noise-based broadcasts may focus on causing inconvenience in daily life and psychological fatigue rather than delivering regime propaganda messages. However, as the specific content and operational methods of the recently announced loudspeaker broadcasts have not yet been confirmed, it is difficult to conclude with certainty whether past noise broadcasts will simply be repeated.