Seoul stops propaganda through loudspeakers on the border with North Korea — the new president of the South promised to improve relations

South Koreaʼs military has suspended broadcasts from loudspeakers near the border with North Korea that were broadcasting propaganda and K-pop, fulfilling a promise by new President Lee Jae Myeon to resume dialogue with the DPRK.

This is reported by the South Korean media Yonhap.

Last year, Seoul resumed a 24-hour loudspeaker campaign after Pyongyang launched balloons with garbage across the border, calling it a response to a "propaganda campaign by North Korean defectors" and leaflets calling for the overthrow of the regime, allegedly sent by activists from South Korea, also using balloons.

In early June 2025, South Korea elected a new president Lee Jae Myeon, a politician from the liberal Democratic Party (DP). When he was sworn in, he promised to suspend anti-Pyongyang leaflet and loudspeaker campaigns, improve strained inter-Korean relations, and reduce tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang.

What is happening between North Korea and South Korea?

Since 1910, the entire Korean Peninsula had been part of the Empire of Japan, but in 1945, the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing Japan to surrender and ending World War II. The Korean Peninsula was divided into two parts: American troops occupied the southern part, and Soviet troops occupied the northern part. In 1945, the southern part declared the Republic of Korea. In 1948, the communist Democratic Peopleʼs Republic of Korea emerged in the northern part.

The leader of the newly formed DPRK was Kim Il Sung, who, hoping to unify Korea, built up an army and started the Korean War in 1950. In July 1953, the US and DPRK signed an armistice, but since then the formal end of the war has not been declared. The DPRK demands that the US withdraw troops from South Korea and lift sanctions, while the US wants the DPRK to get rid of its nuclear weapons.

In mid-October 2024, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Yo Jong said that South Korea would face a “terrible catastrophe” if South Korean drones flew over Pyongyang again. After that, the DPRK put artillery on alert on the border with South Korea. On October 15, the DPRK blew up the roads connecting it to South Korea. And the very next day, the country reported that 1.4 million North Koreans were ready for a “holy war”.

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