ED Removal of loudspeakers

A loudspeaker facility operated by South Korea's military is seen in the border town of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in this June 12 file photo. Yonhap

Despite North Korea's recent rebuff showing that it has no interest in any policy or proposal from South Korea, Seoul has started removing propaganda loudspeakers along the two countries' shared border.

In a move to further eliminate psychological warfare along the land border, the defense ministry is dismantling both fixed and mobile loudspeakers. The move comes two months after President Lee Jae Myung directed on June 11 to switch them off. North Korea reciprocated in kind at the time, turning off the eerie broadcasts that had wreaked havoc on the South Korean residents living in nearby border towns.

The defense ministry said dismantling the loudspeakers was a "practical measure at easing tensions between the two Koreas within a scope that does not affect our military readiness posture."

The border loudspeakers, which North Korea has persistently raised objections about to the South — along with the South Korea-U.S. joint military drills — were last removed during the former Moon Jae-in administration. However, they were later reinstalled by the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration when the North launched trash-laden balloons to the South in 2024.

The latest step is a strong indication that the Lee administration is intent on working toward reconciliation with North Korea. To date, the administration has asked activists to stop launching anti-regime leaflets into the North and allowed civic groups to contact the North for humanitarian exchanges. The National Intelligence Service has also halted its propaganda airing into North Korea.

These are low-level, peaceful overtures intended to resume contact. However, for any bilateral dialogue to happen, a principle of reciprocity should be maintained so that the end product is one of a sustainable and mutual benefit.

Several meaningful agreements have been forged between the two Koreas. But nevertheless, the government should not repeat past administrations' actions, where Seoul leaned in heavily toward Pyongyang with offers of dialogue and investment that did not hold in the long term.

In rebuffing the South's gestures, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, stressed that the two Koreas are now "two states," as espoused by the Pyongyang regime last year. In her statement toward the U.S., she noted that any personal bilateral chemistry between North Korean Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump will not push Pyongyang to stop its nuclear program.

Seoul seems undeterred. The issue of reducing the joint South Korea-U.S. drills, raised publicly by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young in response to Kim Yo-jong's rebuttal, is expected to be discussed during an upcoming National Security Council meeting. Chung on Monday told the NGO Council that the government fund for inter-Korean cooperation programs can be utilized if the NGO groups working on humanitarian projects initiate inter-Korean contact.

Well-intended government moves should come with a strategic pace and plan. As the rivalry between the U.S. and China ups the volatility in Northeast Asia, steps toward inter-Korean contact at the minimum, and the beginning of exchanges at the maximum, could help stabilize the region. Some even cautiously predict that the Lee administration is moving to revive the Sept. 19 military agreement between the two Koreas signed in 2018.

Political willingness and flexibility can work positively in an initial effort to jumpstart contact or dialogue. But Seoul's pursuits must not be one-sided, both for a sustainable Korean peace and to avoid becoming fodder for propaganda efforts by Pyongyang.

The more complex elements of the North's nuclear capabilities, its growing ties with Russia and its relations with the United States loom large. Many options and moves have been floated to date by the South, but now is the time for a reciprocal gesture from North Korea so the two countries can advance with strategic, reciprocity-based actions.