North Korea dismantling loudspeakers at border — Seoul

The move appears to be in response to South Korea removing its border loudspeakers earlier this week

North Korea has begun dismantling some of its border loudspeakers, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). It appears to be a reciprocal step after Seoul removed around 20 of its own devices earlier this week.

Pyongyang had installed roughly 40 loudspeakers to transmit a mix of unsettling noises, from metallic scraping to eerie, ghost-like sounds, toward the South. These broadcasts had been a persistent irritant for residents in border areas such as Paju, Gimpo, and Yeoncheon for nearly a year.

North Korea halted the noise campaign at midnight on June 12, hours after South Korea stopped its own loudspeaker broadcasts following an order from newly elected President Lee Jae-myung.

Lee, who took office in June after a snap election, has sought to reverse years of escalating tension under his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol. Shortly after his inauguration, Lee suspended the South’s cross-border propaganda campaign, which had featured K-pop, news, and political messages. He also urged civic groups to stop sending anti-North propaganda leaflets and signaled an openness to talks without preconditions.

In 2018, the two Koreas dismantled all loudspeakers under the Panmunjom Declaration, but the agreement unraveled. The South had resumed loudspeaker operations in mid-2024 in response to Pyongyang sending thousands of trash-filled balloons across the border in retaliation for South Korean activists launching leaflets into the North. The broadcasts, capable of traveling more than 20 kilometers, were framed by Seoul as a way to deliver “messages of light and hope” to the North’s people and military.

The new South Korean president has promised to end both the propaganda broadcasts and the leaflet campaigns. His predecessor, Yoon, was impeached in December and indicted on insurrection charges after briefly imposing martial law, citing a looming “rebellion” by pro-Pyongyang forces in the opposition.

Seoul and its key ally, Washington, have technically remained at war with Pyongyang since 1953. North Korea has repeatedly denounced joint military drills between South Korea and the United States over the past years, calling them rehearsals for an attack.