North Korea threatens to fire at loudspeakers

North Korea has threatened to fire at South Korean loudspeakers along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and destroy them if Seoul resumes propaganda broadcasting suspended since 2004. “If South Korea installs new speakers for psychological warfare, we will directly aim at them and open fire to destroy them,” an unnamed North Korean military commander said in a statement, carried by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency. “If the South Korean traitors challenge our rightful response, we will counter with mightier physical strikes to eliminate the root cause of their provocation,” the statement said.

The North’s threat came shortly after Seoul announced a set of measures against Pyongyang, holding it accountable for the March 26 sinking of a South Korean warship that took the lives of 46 sailors. Minister of National Defense Kim Tae-Young said, along with other measures, the South would restart psychological operations against the communist North, including loud broadcasts of propaganda along the DMZ.

During a parliamentary session, Minister Kim said the South is considering resuming such broadcasting from today. The North Korean commander noted that propaganda slogans had already appeared on the South’s side of the border, and the South’s military was moving to set up new speakers.
(Source: Korea Times/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
(Photo/NDC EDU)