K-pop, weather news, and scraping metal: Behind the sounds unleashed at the Korean border

Indian Express

a day ago

The South Korean government on Monday (August 4) started removing loudspeakers which were placed at its border with North Korea for transmitting propaganda and information about the country. Over the years, these speakers blared everything from Michael Jackson songs and K-pop (Korean pop music) to weather reports.
The Defence Ministry described it as a 'practical measure that can help ease inter-Korean tensions without affecting the military's readiness posture'. It follows another decision two months ago by the new President Lee Jae Myung, who ordered the suspension of loudspeaker broadcasts in frontline areas, according to the Korean Yonhap News Agency.
It is being seen as part of a softer approach from the new administration, led by President Lee of the liberal Democratic Party. Although just a week ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong said the government's 'blind trust' in its alliance with the US, and hostility toward North Korea, made it no different from its conservative predecessor.
Why were these rather unconventional tactics employed in the decades-old discord between the two nations, who are still technically at war?
The history
North and South Korea were formed after the end of World War 2 (1939-45) as the peninsula was liberated from Japanese rule. Soon, the communist Soviet Union and the liberal capitalist United States competed to extend their influence, with the onset of the Cold War.
The USSR and the US took control of the northern region and the south, respectively, for what was to be a temporary arrangement. The 38th parallel (or latitude) would be the dividing line, and according to former US Secretary of State Dean Rusk (then a military officer), he and Colonel Charles 'Tic' Bonesteel did it without much thought.
Rusk later wrote in his memoir, As I Saw It, 'Neither Tic nor I was a Korea expert, but it seemed to us that Seoul, the capital, should be in the American sector… Using a National Geographic map, we looked just north of Seoul for a convenient dividing line but could not find a natural geographical line. We saw instead the thirty-eighth parallel and decided to recommend that…'
The subsequent war and the influence of the occupying powers made the division permanent. An armistice agreement was signed on July 27, 1953, rather than a peace treaty, leaving North and South Korea technically still at war. Today, a buffer zone called the demilitarised zone (DMZ) runs along the 38th parallel to prevent border skirmishes, with both armies guarding it.
The DMZ runs for almost 250 km and is around 4 km wide. Over the decades, a range of sounds has been blasted through rows of loudspeakers on either side. South Korean officials have claimed their broadcasts can be heard upto 10 km during the day, while North Korean broadcasts have not been heard as easily.
Music, patriotism and more
In the book Music and Conflict, musicologist Keith Howard wrote about the sounds in the early 2000s: 'From the North, verbal abuse juxtaposed with music, revolutionary songs, and songs telling of a land of plenty. The South aired a mixture dominated by American pop of the Michael Jackson kind, reflecting that American troops supplement South Korean forces'.
What was the idea behind it? In an essay, South Korean researcher Yechan Moon of Seoul's Yonsei University wrote about the 'unique intersection of media technology, sensory experience, and geopolitical strategy' ('Sound and Access to Information: The Political Implications of the Loudspeaker Broadcasts to North Korea').
'In the case of loudspeakers, the sensory immediacy and omnipresence of sound play a critical role. Unlike print or digital media, sound cannot be easily escaped or ignored when it envelops an environment,' Moon wrote.
It assumes particular significance for North Korea, often called the 'hermit kingdom' for its strict control of information and isolationist policies. 'Unlike radio receivers or foreign DVDs (which North Korean authorities can criminalize and confiscate in clandestine raids), loudspeaker broadcasts require no active agency by North Korean listeners,' Moon added.
This can make them aware of the world beyond through a common language. Many defectors from the North have said that they knew about South Korean popular culture, such as films, TV shows and music, but accessing smuggled media was difficult and dangerous.
Moon wrote that the medium of sound itself is potent in provoking emotional and physiological responses. Furthermore, 'North Korea's own media strategy reflects its acknowledgment of sound's power. Domestically, the regime itself employs ubiquitous loudspeaker systems — every North Korean town has public address speakers that broadcast approved news and martial music every morning — essentially a one-way internal loudspeaker propaganda network.'
Shifting policy
The sound has been turned on and off periodically, depending on the state of the ties and specific incidents.
Last year, under the former conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration, South Korea turned on the loudspeakers for the first time in six years, as Pyongyang launched thousands of trash-carrying balloons across the border. Seoul had previously conducted the campaign after North Korea's fourth nuclear test in 2016, Yonhap News Agency said.
This time around, it reportedly included K-pop group BTS's English language mega-hits 'Butter' and 'Dynamite,' weather forecasts and news, and criticism of the North's missile program and its crackdown.
The North launched its own propaganda in return. After a few weeks, the Incheon Metropolitan Government said it would request the central government to devise a framework for 'compensating residents near the inter-Korean border who have been affected by disruptive noises,' The Korea Times reported. Residents said they heard high-pitched noises resembling scraping metal, sirens and drums.
(With Associated Press inputs)
Rishika Singh is a Senior sub-editor at the Explained Desk of The Indian Express. She enjoys writing on issues related to international relations, and in particular, likes to follow analyses of news from China. Additionally, she writes on developments related to politics and culture in India.
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