Overview

• South Korea under President Lee Jae Myung dismantled loudspeakers and halted broadcasts aimed at North Korea on June 11 as part of easing tensions.
• North Korea’s military reportedly turned off its border loudspeakers on June 12, indicating a reciprocal move toward de-escalation.
• The broadcasts previously featured K-pop music and propaganda from Seoul and animal noises and gong strikes from Pyongyang, aggravating border communities.
• The policy shift marks a departure from Yoon Suk Yeol’s hardline approach that escalated a psychological warfare campaign involving loudspeakers and balloons carrying propaganda and trash.
• Despite the ceasefire since 1953, the peninsula remains technically at war and tensions persist over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal and missile development.