North Korea's Kim Yo Jong flags border loudspeakers; Seoul weighs 'proportional response'

Kim Yo Jong of North Korea's Workers' Party said in a statement on 21 October that loudspeakers for psychological warfare against South Korea would be put into operation on all border lines within October, according to Yonhap and Newsis. Newsis said the statement was released via the Korean Central News Agency and claimed that armed thugs had again fired warning broadcasts and warning shots at no fewer than two places that day. [ 1 , 2 ]

Newsis said she had said on 19 October that North Korea was reviewing a resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts, and that in that statement she claimed 2,870 warning broadcasts and 201 warning shots between 1 August and 17 October. CBS NoCut News said she lowered the tone on 22 October, saying the loudspeakers would be on standby within days, and that conditions attached to her statements, such as 'if a mistake is made', mean it is too early to judge North Korea's intent. [ 2 , 3 ]

Yonhap said South Korea's military has been giving warning broadcasts and firing warning shots as North Korean troops repeatedly cross the military demarcation line while working on what it called border fortification, and that Kim Yo Jong said these measures threaten the safety of North Korean soldiers. Newsis said no aimed fire has been reported in connection with the fortification work. [ 1 , 2 ]

A defence ministry official told reporters on 20 October that if North Korea resumes the broadcasts a proportional response would be needed, and that no means is ruled out regardless of its effect on the North. Yonhap said resuming North-facing loudspeakers is mentioned first. It said about 20 fixed loudspeakers that have been removed could be reinstalled, or about 10 mobile ones reactivated, though the military judges the broadcasts less effective than before. Yonhap also named resuming the Voice of Freedom radio broadcast and the National Intelligence Service's radio and TV broadcasts to the North. Newsis said leaflets and Voice of Freedom were also mentioned but judged unlikely, and that Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul (강신철) told a parliamentary audit that it should be reconsidered whether such broadcasts work on the North. [ 1 , 2 ]

At a briefing on 22 October, Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Jang Do-young (장도영) said routine maintenance of loudspeakers had been seen before the North Korean statement and that no installation of new weapons had been identified, but the military was watching closely. Defence ministry spokesperson Jung Bit-na (정빛나) said she thinks a proportional measure would be needed if North Korea acts, but nothing has been decided. [ 3 ]

Yonhap said the two sides' loudspeaker broadcasts were halted last year in June, after the Lee Jae-myung government took office and ordered a halt to North-facing broadcasts, and that North Korea also stopped. It said the South later removed all fixed North-facing loudspeakers, while North Korea is reported to have left its own in place and kept up maintenance. Newsis cited two professors who analysed the statement, saying it may be meant to seize the initiative at the demarcation line or to stir division within South Korea. [ 1 , 2 ]