Overview

• South Korea’s defense ministry announced on June 11 that loudspeaker propaganda along the Demilitarized Zone has been suspended.
• Lee won May elections pledging dialogue with the North and framed the halt as a step to restore mutual trust and pursue peace.
• The broadcasts were reactivated in June 2024 under former president Yoon Suk Yeol after North Korea launched trash-filled balloons southward.
• North Korea continues its own loudspeaker transmissions into South Korean border towns, prompting noise complaints from residents.
• The Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950–53 conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.