Silence has returned to the inter-Korean border for the first time in a year, as Pyongyang ceased loudspeaker broadcasts in a reciprocal action hours after Seoul powered down its propaganda volume on the front line.
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Observers warn that while the halt may help build an atmosphere conducive to easing tensions, it does not yet signal a shift in the North’s broader indifferent policy towards reconciliation with its neighbour or the United States.
“There have been no areas today where North Korea’s loudspeaker broadcasts towards the South were heard,” a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official said on Thursday.
According to the official, North Korea’s loudspeakers went quiet after 11pm on Wednesday. “In the past, these broadcasts were often audible in the early morning, but none were heard this morning.”
He warned, however, that the stoppage might only be temporary. “We are closely monitoring the North for its next moves.”
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Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, cautioned against reading too much into the development.
“North Korea is reacting proportionally to the South’s prior halt to its borderline loudspeaker broadcasts. The North sees no need to continue the war of loudspeakers, which has a disproportionately greater psychological impact on its own soldiers and border residents than on South Koreans,” Hong told This Week in Asia.