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By Jun Ji-hye
The South Korean military resumed broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda via loudspeakers located along the border between the two nations at noon Friday in response to Pyongyang's claim on Wednesday that it conducted a hydrogen bomb test.
The North is expected to respond by with its own loudspeaker propaganda.
Seoul is broadcasting the propaganda at 11 sites near the Inter-Korean border, four months after this was halted on Aug. 25 when the two Koreas reached a landmark deal to ease military tension on the Korean Peninsula.
The broadcasts include a greater variety of content, including not only pertinent truth about the repressive state including a purge of the North's high-ranking officials, criticism about the Kim Jong-un regime, the superiority of democracy, but also international news, weather information and K-pop music, according to a military official.
"The broadcasts will be carried out at irregular times of the night and day to maximize effectiveness," said the official on condition of anonymity.
The Aug. 25 inter-Korean deal states that Seoul agreed to stop broadcasting the anti-Pyongyang propaganda unless "abnormal" events take place. The South regards the North's latest nuclear test as an abnormal event, officials said.
The South's loudspeakers can be heard 24 kilometers away at night and 10 kilometers away during the day, according to experts.
The broadcasts are expected to influence residents in the North's border city of Gaeseong, just 10 kilometers from the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), as well as North Korean soldiers along the border.
Pyongyang has reacted very sensitively in the past to such tactics, apparently concerned about the possible effect it might have on its citizens. The resumption of the broadcasting is expected to further infuriate the North Korean regime because Friday is the birthday of its young leader.
In preparation for further possible provocations from the North directed against the loudspeakers, South Korean military raised its military alert to the highest level in the areas where the broadcasts are occurring, and deployed TOW-II anti-tank missiles, Biho self-propelled 30-milimeter anti-aircraft guns, K-9 self-propelled guns and AN/TPQ-36 artillery location radar.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff also raised the information operations condition, or INFOCON, from Level 5 to Level 4 in preparation against any possible cyber attacks from the North.
When the South's military resumed the propaganda broadcasts in August for the first time in 11 years, the North fired shells at the South's western front unit, which were believed to be intended for the loudspeakers. At the time, the South fired shells back, and this led the North Korean leader to declare a state of semi-war and ratchet up military threats that month.
At the time, the tension was defused after the two Koreas quite easily found middle ground between them -- the South wanted the North to admit responsibility for a landmine blast that maimed two South Korean soldiers inside the Demilitarized Zone, while the North wanted the South to stop the broadcasts.
However, observers say circumstances are different this time because it is entirely unknown what negotiation agenda the North may suggest at this stage. They say it will be hard for the government to draw up an exit strategy to resolve the currently mounting tension.
"An apology for the nuclear test would be useless for the South, while the promise of denuclearization would be impossible for the North," a defense expert said on condition of anonymity.
The two Koreas agreed to suspend the loudspeaker broadcasts in 2004 during general-level military talks. But Seoul announced a plan to resume the broadcasts in 2010 after Pyongyang's deadly torpedoing of the South Korean Navy frigate Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors. At the time, the North threatened to shoot at the speakers, and the broadcasts did not resume.
Then the military resumed broadcasting in August after three North Korean antipersonnel landmines exploded in the South-controlled area of the DMZ on Aug. 4, maiming two South Korean soldiers.
Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
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