June 12, 2025
SEOUL – South Korea on Wednesday suspended its loudspeaker broadcasts aimed at North Korea, as part of the liberal Lee Jae-myung administration’s efforts to ease tension with Pyongyang.
According to the presidential office, President Lee ordered the broadcasts, via loudspeakers installed in border area, to be halted starting 2 p.m. Wednesday.
“This decision reflects President Lee’s commitment to restoring trust with North Korea and advancing his peace policy for the Korean Peninsula,” Lee’s spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said during a press briefing held Wednesday afternoon in Yongsan, Seoul.
Kang further described the suspension as a “step to ease the burden on residents in border areas who have long suffered from noise broadcasts targeting the North.”
She added that the decision was made as a gesture of goodwill, particularly in light of the absence of any major provocations from North Korea in recent weeks.
President Lee had pledged during his campaign ahead of the June 3 presidential election to halt the operation as part of broader efforts to ease inter-Korean tensions and rebuild trust.
According to an official from the presidential office, the decision was made during a Cabinet meeting held the previous day. It came exactly a week after the Lee administration took office on June 4.
The broadcasts had been resumed by the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration in June 2024 after a six-year hiatus. The decision came as North Korea continued sending waste-filled balloons across the border, prompting Seoul to suspend the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.
flylikekite@heraldcorp.com