South Korea begins removing border propaganda speakers in conciliatory gesture toward North
The speakers had previously been used to blast anti-North Korean propaganda across the border, but the South's new liberal government halted the broadcasts in June in a conciliatory gesture as it looks to rebuild trust and revive dialogue with Pyongyang, which has largely cut off cooperation with the South in recent years.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said the physical removal of the loudspeakers from the border was another 'practical measure' aimed at easing tensions between the war-divided Koreas and that it does not affect the South's military readiness.
Lee Kyung-ho, a spokesperson for the ministry, didn't share specific details on how the removed loudspeakers will be stored or whether they could be quickly redeployed to the border if tensions flare again between the Koreas. There were no discussions between the two militaries ahead of the South's decision to remove the speakers, Lee said during a briefing.
North Korea, which is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its authoritarian leadership and its third-generation ruler, Kim Jong Un, didn't immediately comment on the South Korean step.
The South's previous conservative government resumed the daily loudspeaker broadcasts in June last year following a yearslong pause in retaliation for North Korea flying trash-laden balloons toward the South in a psychological warfare campaign.
The speakers blasted propaganda messages and K-pop songs, a playlist clearly designed to strike a nerve in Pyongyang, where Kim's government has been intensifying a campaign to eliminate the influence of South Korean pop culture and language among the population in a bid to strengthen his family's dynastic rule.
The Cold War-style psychological warfare campaigns further heightened tensions already inflamed by North Korea's advancing nuclear program and South Korean efforts to expand joint military exercises with the United States and their trilateral security cooperation with Japan.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, a liberal who took office in June after winning an early election to replace ousted conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, has vowed to improve relations with Pyongyang, which reacted furiously to Yoon's hard-line policies and shunned dialogue.
But Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North Korean leader, rebuffed overtures by Lee's government last week, saying that Seoul's 'blind trust' in the country's alliance with the U.S. and hostility toward North Korea make it no different from its conservative predecessor. Her comments implied that North Korea — now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia over the war in Ukraine – feels no urgency to resume diplomacy with Seoul and Washington anytime soon.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
U.S. blocking Canadian access to road southern Alberta county has long relied on
Along the Canada-U.S. border runs a remote stretch of road that some County of Warner residents in southern Alberta have used freely for decades. There's just one problem. It's on the American side of the border. Canadians have long relied on Border Road, even though it's in Montana, because it intersects with so many Alberta roads. For decades, the county had an agreement with nearby Toole County, Mont., where their American counterparts would supply the gravel and Warner maintained the road, reflecting the deep interconnection between the two counties. Residents have long been able to use the road without the need to pass through an official border crossing, even during times when the U.S. previously sought to strengthen its border security. But beginning next July, Canadians will be restricted from using Border Road without first passing through an official border crossing. After months of rumours that this change to his county's daily life could be on the way, Warner's Reeve Randy Taylor said the timeline to shut down Canadian access to the road was confirmed in a meeting with U.S. Homeland Security last week. "Nobody likes change, but I think it has been coming for a long time," said Taylor. "It's unfortunate, but it's going to happen." In its place, the county is planning to build a new gravel road on the Canadian side of the border. Border security efforts Alberta RCMP previously worked closely with American agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, to secure the area, which had a high concentration of border-monitoring technology. But the new restriction on Border Road is tied to increased efforts by the Canadian and U.S. federal governments to bolster border security. In December, Alberta unveiled a $29-million border security plan. As part of that plan, it introduced the Interdiction Patrol Team, under command of the Alberta Sheriffs, equipped with the power to make arrests without a warrant in a two-kilometre "red zone" located north of the Montana border. WATCH | From March 2025: How border residents feel about new security measures: The RCMP also ramped up its border security, including increased Black Hawk helicopter patrols along Alberta's border. U.S. President Donald Trump has continually linked his plan to impose tariffs on Canada to a purported flood of the smuggling of the synthetic opioid fentanyl from Canada into the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows seizures of fentanyl from Canada total less than one per cent of total U.S. seizures of the drug. Specifically in the Havre sector in Montana, officials have so far seized a little more than 0.5 pounds of fentanyl in fiscal year 2025. Darcy Wills, who runs a cattle ranch in the County of Warner alongside the border, said the road has long served an important purpose for those who live in the area. "On the Canadian side, people access the road for their day-to-day activities. Whether it be farming activities or going to town, they use that road, and it's been a perfectly acceptable way of doing business," Wills said. "But now, they've got this plan to force the Canadians to build a road on the north side of the actual border. And it's just an extra cost, duplication of services. "You'll have two roads, side by side." When it comes to the idea that the move is being made for security reasons, Wills said he doesn't give it much weight. "That's false, in my opinion. People use it, they don't abuse it," he said. "Border security is important … but if there's any strange traffic or people in strange places, we would see it." Local residents using Border Road has never been an issue in the past, said Warner's reeve, Taylor. And the partnership between Warner and Toole County worked well. Warner's residents are generally unhappy with the change, said Taylor, but he added he's confident that when the new Canadian road is constructed, they'll be more accepting of the new circumstances. "I think once it's built and everybody gets used to it, it's going to be just fine. It'll be better for both law-enforcement agencies," said Taylor. "The fact is the U.S. are strong, that they are closing that road to Canadian traffic, so we have no choice but to put another road in on the Alberta side." Taylor added that the province has verbally agreed to pay for the new road. Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen said the county has already progressed well into designing a replacement road. Subject to funding approval, construction on the new road will begin late this fall or early next year, he said. "While the road is under U.S. jurisdiction, Alberta's government is fast-tracking with the county to explore options that will maintain safe, reliable connections for residents, farm operations and local businesses," said Dreeshen in an emailed statement. The RCMP declined to comment, referring CBC News to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That agency did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. Solve the daily Crossword
CBS News
9 hours ago
- CBS News
Gov. DeSantis announces plans for new "Deportation Depot" in Florida. Here's what we know.
In an effort to assist the Trump administration in securing the border and enforcing immigration laws, Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he has authorized a new detention facility at a prison in North Florida. The governor said the Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, which is about 45 miles west of Jacksonville, would be able to hold approximately 1,300 detainees. He said the site is near Lake City Gateway Airport which would enable deportation flights. The facility has been vacant for several years after it was closed down in 2021 as the state grappled with severe staff shortages, according to the Miami Herald. "We are calling this the deportation depot," DeSantis said at a news conference on Thursday at the site. "We want to process, stage and then return illegal aliens to their home country." The governor said the site will be operational soon, "it is not going to take forever, but we are also not rushing to do this right this day." It could take two to three weeks to get the facility operational, according to Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the agency in charge of building the immigration facilities. After opening the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention site in Everglades facility last month, DeSantis justified opening the second detention center by saying President Donald Trump's administration needs the additional capacity to hold and deport more immigrants. "A lot of illegal aliens can get rounded up, I mean that's just the nature of the problem because you've had so many come in. We know in Florida there's anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 that already have final orders of removal. So they are in our country illegally, they've already gone through the process and they have been ordered to be removed, and yet nothing had happened. So, we're working to correct that," DeSantis said. The governor said the Department of Homeland Security told him that the state is rounding up undocumented immigrants faster than they can hold, process and deport them. DeSantis said that was the inspiration to construct the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention site in the Everglades. He said many have been processed and flown out of the facility already, and they are doing more and more every day. "We also said we have the ability to do more than that. DHS in their agreement with us, because they are reimbursing these expenses, they anticipate up to 5,000. So we said you are probably going to need a different facility if you want to do that many," DeSantis said. DeSantis pledged that detainees at the new facility will have "the same services" that are available at the state's first detention center. Attorneys for detainees at the Everglades facility have called the conditions there deplorable, writing in a court filing that some detainees are showing symptoms of COVID-19 without being separated from the general population. Rainwater floods their tents and officers go cell-to-cell pressuring detainees to sign voluntary removal orders before they're allowed to consult their attorneys. "Recent conditions at Alligator Alcatraz have fueled a sense of desperation among detainees," the attorneys said in the court filing. Conditions at the hastily built detention center were outlined in a filing made Wednesday ahead of a hearing Monday over the legal rights of the detainees. Civil rights attorneys want U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz to ensure that detainees at the facility have confidential access to their lawyers, which the lawyers say they haven't had. Last week, in a second court filing, a federal judge in Miami ordered the state to stop construction at the Everglades site for two weeks amid a legal battle over the potential environmental impacts. Environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe are urging U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams to issue a preliminary injunction halting operations and construction at the site, arguing it threatens sensitive wetlands and endangered wildlife. But Williams said she will not rule until the end of a temporary construction freeze, which expires Aug. 21.
Wall Street Journal
10 hours ago
- Wall Street Journal
Israeli Minister Strikes at Palestinian State With Move to Expand Key Settlement
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel would move ahead with a controversial settlement expansion near East Jerusalem that would isolate key Palestinian communities and significantly complicate prospects for a Palestinian state. Smotrich, who also oversees civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories via a separate post in the defense ministry, said construction plans have been approved for a project that 'finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state.'
