North Korea denies loudspeaker removal, rejects Seoul outreach
South Korea is "misleading the public opinion by saying that we have removed the loudspeakers installed on the southern border area," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"It is unfounded unilateral supposition and a red herring," she said. "We have never removed loudspeakers installed on the border area and are not willing to remove them."
The South's military removed its anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeakers from border areas inside the DMZ last week. The Joint Chiefs of Staff reported over the weekend that North Korea began dismantling its own speakers in some forward areas,
On Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung commented on the North's "reciprocal measures" during a cabinet meeting, saying he hoped it would lead to renewed inter-Korean dialogue and communication.
Lee's administration has made efforts to improve relations between the two Koreas since he took office in June. In addition to the loudspeaker removal, Seoul has cracked down on activists floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border and recently repatriated six North Koreans who drifted into southern waters on wooden boats.
Kim's statement comes days before Seoul and Washington are scheduled to commence their summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise, set for Aug. 18-28. North Korea regularly denounces the allies' joint drills as rehearsals for an invasion.
Half of Ulchi Freedom Shield's 44 planned field training exercises have been rescheduled to next month, with local media reports claiming the move was made to avoid provoking Pyongyang.
Kim, however, rejected Seoul's gestures as "nothing but a pipedream."
"Whether the ROK withdraws its loudspeakers or not, stops broadcasting or not, postpones its military exercises or not and downscales them or not, we do not care about them and are not interested in them," she said, using the official acronym for South Korea.
In response to Kim's statement, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff maintained the military's account that the North had removed some of its loudspeakers.
"The military has explained the facts regarding what it observed, and I believe we need to be careful not to be misled by the other side's stated intentions," JCS spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun said at a briefing Thursday. "North Korea has always made claims that are untrue."
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