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South China Morning Post

North Korea removes border loudspeakers days after South

South Korea's military said Saturday it detected North Korea removing some of its loudspeakers from the inter-Korean border, days after the South dismantled its own front-line speakers used for anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts in a bid to ease tensions. Advertisement South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff did not disclose the sites where the North Koreans were removing speakers and said it wasn't immediately clear whether the North would take all of them down. In recent months, South Korean border residents have complained that North Korean speakers blasted irritating sounds, including howling animals and pounding gongs, in a tit-for-tat response to South Korean propaganda broadcasts. The South Korean military said the North stopped its broadcasts in June after Seoul's new liberal president, Lee Jae-myung, halted the South's broadcasts in his government's first concrete step toward easing tensions between the war-divided rivals. South Korea's military began removing its speakers from border areas on Monday but did not specify how they would be stored or whether they could be quickly redeployed if tensions flared again. North Korea, which is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its authoritarian leadership and its third-generation ruler, Kim Jong-un, did not immediately confirm it was taking down its speakers. Advertisement South Korea's previous conservative government resumed daily loudspeaker broadcasts in June 2024, following a years-long pause, in retaliation for North Korea flying trash-laden balloons toward the South.