Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Seoul extends olive branch to North Korea — will Pyongyang respond?
President Lee Jae Myung presides over a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Tuesday. Joint Press Corps
By Lee Hyo-jin
Bold moves, slim chances — experts doubt breakthrough in inter-Korean ties
Less than two months in office, President Lee Jae Myung is moving swiftly to improve frayed relations with North Korea, rolling back years of hardline policies imposed by his conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol.
Lee has suspended military propaganda loudspeakers along the inter-Korean border and authorized several non-governmental organizations to resume humanitarian outreach to the North. His administration has also called on civic groups to stop launching anti-North Korean leaflets that have long angered the Kim Jong-un regime.
But the most notable and controversial step taken by Lee’s government is the quiet shutdown of decades-old radio and television broadcasts run by the country’s spy agency.
Earlier this month, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) halted its decades-long propaganda broadcasts targeting North Korea, signaling a significant scale-down of South Korea’s psychological warfare efforts.
The transmissions, which had aired since the late 1980s, were intended to expose North Korean listeners to outside news and South Korean films and dramas, and to weaken the regime’s control over information.
Many defectors have said the broadcasts played a pivotal role in shaking their belief in the North Korean system and, in some cases, inspiring them to escape.
According to Seoul Pyongyang News, a Seoul-based outlet specializing in North Korean affairs, the final television broadcast aired at midnight on July 14, ending with the South Korean national anthem. In the days leading up to the shutdown, the programming reportedly carried messages of inter-Korean cooperation.
The NIS declined to comment on the suspension.
A resident of Ganghwa County, Incheon, gestures toward a hillside in North Korea’s Gaepung County, where loudspeakers installed by the North appear to have fallen silent on June 12 — a day after South Korea suspended its own military broadcasts across the border. Yonhap
A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, confirmed the broadcasts had been suspended for some time.
"Halting what have become somewhat meaningless broadcasts is more in line with efforts to improve inter-Korean relations, rather than further deteriorate them," the official said.
This decision is particularly notable as previous liberal governments, including those of Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in, both of whom sought rapprochement with North Korea, had kept the broadcasts running.
Analysts view the Lee administration’s bold decision as a potentially risky move, with some warning that the government’s softened posture toward North Korea relies too heavily on the hope of reciprocity from Pyongyang.
"The suspension of the NIS broadcasts is a major misstep in the Lee administration’s North Korea policy," said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.
"These weren’t high-intensity propaganda programs. They delivered general information about South Korea, such as K-pop and TV shows about daily life. I don’t see any reason why they should be stopped at this point."
Park also criticized the timing, arguing that the Lee government has "used a key diplomatic card too early," despite little chance of an immediate response from Pyongyang.
"With the Kim Jong-un regime now promoting a so-called 'two-state theory' and officially treating the South as a separate and hostile country, any reciprocal gesture would require serious internal shifts within the regime," he said. "That won’t happen anytime soon. The regime would need time to justify such changes to its people."
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) called the suspension a "hasty decision and submissive gesture."
"Broadcasts to North Korea are not simply propaganda tools," PPP spokesperson Rep. Kwak Kyu-taek said in a statement.
"Even the Roh Moo-hyun administration maintained them because they serve as a vital psychological warfare asset, delivering news from the outside world and helping to induce internal cracks within the reclusive regime."
Some in Seoul see the spy agency’s decision to halt its broadcasts as a possible gesture of reciprocity, mirroring Pyongyang’s move in January 2024 to pull the plug on its own propaganda channels, which included Echo of Unification and Pyongyang Broadcasting Station.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during a meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, which took place from June 21 to 23, in this photo carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, June 24. Yonhap
Looking ahead, the Lee administration’s next major move to improve relations with North Korea could involve scaling back or suspending joint military drills with the United States, such as the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, typically held in August.
The UFS simulates a full-scale war with North Korea and is routinely condemned by Pyongyang as a rehearsal for invasion. The drills were significantly expanded under the Yoon administration, but some within the South Korean military expect this year’s exercise to be scaled back in line with Lee’s efforts to ease tensions.
While a thaw in inter-Korean relations remains unlikely in the near term, some analysts say Lee’s early overtures may help lay the foundation for renewed engagement down the line.
"The government appears to be implementing a series of measures aimed at long-term goals, rather than expecting immediate results," said Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies.
"North Korea is likely watching these moves very carefully," Lim said. "Even if there is no visible reaction now, the regime may eventually face internal pressure to respond to the growing number of conciliatory signals in some way."