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Korea Herald
5 days ago
- Politics
- Korea Herald
What North Korea's removal of loudspeakers means for South Korea
NK's removal of loudspeakers signals tension alleviation, but risks exist, experts say North Korea's recent move to dismantle some of its loudspeakers along the border can be interpreted as a sign of Pyongyang seeking alleviation of military tension between the two Koreas, but several risks exist, experts said Sunday. 'North Korea has immediately reacted to South Korea's decision to dismantle its own loudspeakers targeting the North along the border, and this can be seen as Pyongyang's intention to avoid further escalation of tension,' Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said. 'This is a strategic choice aiming to control the level of inter-Korean tension and conveys the North's preference towards military tension alleviation on the Korean Peninsula at the moment,' he added. On Saturday, the South's military noted that the North had begun dismantling some loudspeakers used to broadcast its propaganda for its regime across the border. The signs came within a week after the South completed the removal of its own 'anti-Pyongyang' loudspeakers amid the Lee Jae Myung administration's efforts to improve inter-Korean relations. Lim added that the North's recent reaction to the South's 'preemptive' move to alleviate tensions is expected to define Pyongyang's stance towards inter-Korean ties. 'This is a reaction to the South's preemptive action, and it presents a possibility that the North will continue to react whenever the South decides to make such moves to alleviate the tension first,' he said. Another North Korean expert echoed Lim's sentiment, saying that the North's dismantling of its loudspeakers is Pyongyang's 'new way' of dealing with relations with the South. 'It can be interpreted as the North's new way of dealing with its ties with the South and a passive move towards the Lee administration's active and preemptive measures,' Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said. But uncertainties exist: the latest exchange in actions lacked a solid communication channel or an agreement on the process, the Seoul-based North Korea expert noted. Yang believes a lack of "agreements based on face-to-face negotiations, ... presents uncertainties and limits to (this new type of inter-Korean exchange).' 'It means that the tension could always escalate again when either the South or the North misinterprets gestures and signs,' he added. Lim also pointed out that the North's decision to only partially remove its loudspeakers at the moment means that Pyongyang is seeking to 'only cooperate when its conditions are met.' Instead of expressing willingness to fully revive dialogue with the South and cooperate with Seoul, Pyongyang seems to be strategically focusing on short-term outcomes, he added. Since 1963, both the South and the North have engaged in a low-level military conflict involving loudspeaker broadcasts along the border, following the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a truce or a peace treaty. Both sides have repeatedly halted and revived the loudspeaker broadcasts depending on inter-Korean relations.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Korea destroys family reunion centre in 'inhumane act', Seoul says
North Korea is demolishing a venue that for decades hosted tearful reunions of families separated by the Korean War and the division of the country, Seoul said Thursday, decrying the "inhumane" move. Millions of people were swept apart by the 1950-53 Korean War, which split the peninsula and separated brothers and sisters, parents and children and husbands and wives. Hostilities ceased with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war and with all direct civilian exchanges prohibited. Emotional reunions in the North's Kumgang mountain served as a testament to the devastating human cost of the Korean peninsula's division. But the meetings were subject to the vagaries of inter-Korea politics and often used as a negotiating tool by Pyongyang. The last one was held in 2018. "The demolition of the Mount Kumgang Reunion Center is an inhumane act that tramples on the earnest wishes of separated families," a spokesperson for Seoul's unification ministry said. South Korea "sternly urges an immediate halt to such actions" and "expresses strong regret". "North Korea's unilateral demolition cannot be justified under any pretext, and the North Korean authorities must bear full responsibility for this situation," the spokesperson added. Since 1988, around 130,000 South Koreans have registered their "separated families". As of 2025, around 36,000 of those individuals are still alive, according to official data. Seventy-five percent say they do not know if their relatives are alive or dead. A handful were lucky enough to be chosen to take part in the occasional crossborder reunions, mostly hosted at the Mount Kumgang resort. With the reunion program effectively halted, the reality for most of the separated families is that they are unlikely to ever see each other again. - Severing ties - North and South Korea held the first such reunion in 1985, but it was not until 2000 that they became regular events following the first inter-Korean summit that year. The reunions were marked by emotional scenes of families tearfully reuniting and parting after brief days of meeting. Relations between the two Koreas are now at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last year declared Seoul his "principal enemy" and renounced his government's long-held goal of re-unification. "Kim Jong Un declared his intention to sever all inter-Korean ties," Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, told AFP. "I see this as part of that process," Lim said, of the reunion centre demolition. Pyongyang has also bombarded the South with trash-carrying balloons, in what it says is retaliation for anti-Pyongyang propaganda missives sent north by activists. kjk-oho/lb
