Things are heating up again on the Korean Peninsula. The government of South Korea announced on Thursday that it will soon restart its loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts at several strategic locations across the border with North Korea. The last time South Korea undertook this kind of propaganda campaign against the north, tensions between the two nations ratcheted up significantly, with insane North Korean leader Kim Jong Un going so far as declaring a state of “semi-war”.
Political analysts highlight that this decision by the South Korean government is clearly a response to North Korea’s underground nuclear test earlier this week.
More on South Korea resuming propaganda broadcasts
In announcing the resumption of the loudspeaker broadcasts, South Korea noted it would respond “sternly” to any North Korean provocation. The broadcasts provide North Koreans with a visceral understanding of the very different economic and social realities in the two Koreas and puncture the falsehoods about South Korea promulgated by Kim and his gang of thugs.
Not surprisingly, the broadcasts are condemned by the Kim regime. Of note, the propaganda broadcasts will begin Friday, which is (not coincidentally) Kim’s birthday.
Keep in mind that the decision to restart the propaganda broadcasts came after President Obama and South Korean President Park Geun Hye discussed the situation and said they would “forge a united and strong international response” to the North Korean nuclear test a couple of days ago. North Korea later claimed that the test was of a hydrogen bomb.
Defense Department sources also say the U.S. may send more military hardware to the area, possibly including B-52 bombers, F-22 fighter jets or a even a nuclear submarine. Of note, 28,500 U.S. troops are already deployed in South Korea.
Experts say it looks like South Korea has decided the propaganda broadcasts are the best way to get Kim’s attention. Sent via 30-foot tall banks of loudspeakers that blast across the border, the propaganda can be heard over 15 miles into North Korea. Taking a more subtle approach, the South Korean broadcasts do not directly criticize Kin Jong Un and the North Korean government, but make clear the relative wealth and freedom of life in South Korea through a mix of music (such as catchy K-pop tunes), commercials for various consumer goods and report about the current economic conditions in the two nations.
The broadcasts are seen by the Kim regime as a direct attack on the government’s carefully constructed fantasy claiming the South is actually worse off than the North and committed to destroying the country.
Late this summer, the government in Seoul began broadcasting across the border for the first time since 2004 as revenge for a landmine attack in the DMZ dividing the countries that wounded two South Korean soldiers. Kim responded with a series of provocative military maneuvers, and claimed to be committed to “all out military action” to end the broadcasts.
Intense multi-day negotiations ended the spat, with South Korea saying it would not make further broadcasts under “normal” circumstances. South Korean Defense Minister Han Min Koo explained in a press conference yesterday that the nuclear test by the North had produced an “abnormal situation”.
Recent North Korea nuclear test not a hydrogen bomb
International nuclear weapons experts said the recent North Korean underground nuclear test (1/06, 10 a.m. local time), which triggered a magnitude 5.1 earthquake, was almost certainly not a hydrogen bomb. U.S., South Korean and European experts pointed to evidence in such as the yield and seismic wave of the blast, which were very close to prior North Korean nuclear tests.
