By Jun Ji-hye
The South Korean military plans to double its number of loudspeaker facilities to beef up anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts along the border in retaliation to Pyongyang's continuous provocative actions including its recent series of ballistic missile launches, officials said Wednesday.
"We plan to add 10 new loudspeaker broadcast stations by the end of this year," a military official said on the condition of anonymity.
The military currently operates 11 loudspeaker facilities near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) as a means of conducting psychological warfare.
The broadcasts include a variety of contents ranging from weather information and K-pop music to pertinent truth about the repressive state including a purge of the North's high-ranking officials to criticism about the Kim Jong-un regime.
As part of the upcoming expansion, the military will also introduce about six more mobile loudspeaker systems on top of the six that are currently in operation, the official noted.
Seoul resumed broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda via loudspeakers early January in response to Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test, four months after the measure was halted on Aug. 25 when the two Koreas reached a landmark deal to ease military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The Aug. 25 inter-Korean deal stated that Seoul agreed to stop broadcasting the anti-Pyongyang propaganda unless "abnormal" events take place.
The suspension of the broadcasting in that month came 15 days after Seoul had resumed the old tactic after North Korea wounded two South Korean soldiers in a land mine attack near the tense inter-Korean border.
The two Koreas had previously stopped the psychological warfare operations on the border in a mutual agreement in June 2004.
Pyongyang has reacted very sensitively in the past to such tactics, apparently concerned about the possible effect it might have on its citizens.
The authoritarian state has continued nuclear and missile provocations, including the launch of a series of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM) since April.
"It also aims to correctly inform the North Korean military and people of the reality that the Kim regime is misleading its people and hurting the economy by engaging in the dual policy of seeking nuclear and economic development at the same time," the official said.
Many experts in Seoul said that the two-pronged policy of simultaneously building nuclear weapons and boosting the economy is not realistic and likely to fail.
The South Korean military plans to double its number of loudspeaker facilities to beef up anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts along the border in retaliation to Pyongyang's continuous provocative actions including its recent series of ballistic missile launches, officials said Wednesday.
"We plan to add 10 new loudspeaker broadcast stations by the end of this year," a military official said on the condition of anonymity.
The military currently operates 11 loudspeaker facilities near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) as a means of conducting psychological warfare.
The broadcasts include a variety of contents ranging from weather information and K-pop music to pertinent truth about the repressive state including a purge of the North's high-ranking officials to criticism about the Kim Jong-un regime.
As part of the upcoming expansion, the military will also introduce about six more mobile loudspeaker systems on top of the six that are currently in operation, the official noted.
Seoul resumed broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda via loudspeakers early January in response to Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test, four months after the measure was halted on Aug. 25 when the two Koreas reached a landmark deal to ease military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The Aug. 25 inter-Korean deal stated that Seoul agreed to stop broadcasting the anti-Pyongyang propaganda unless "abnormal" events take place.
The suspension of the broadcasting in that month came 15 days after Seoul had resumed the old tactic after North Korea wounded two South Korean soldiers in a land mine attack near the tense inter-Korean border.
The two Koreas had previously stopped the psychological warfare operations on the border in a mutual agreement in June 2004.
Pyongyang has reacted very sensitively in the past to such tactics, apparently concerned about the possible effect it might have on its citizens.
The authoritarian state has continued nuclear and missile provocations, including the launch of a series of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM) since April.
"It also aims to correctly inform the North Korean military and people of the reality that the Kim regime is misleading its people and hurting the economy by engaging in the dual policy of seeking nuclear and economic development at the same time," the official said.
Many experts in Seoul said that the two-pronged policy of simultaneously building nuclear weapons and boosting the economy is not realistic and likely to fail.
