(MENAFN) North Korea has started dismantling some of its border loudspeakers, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced, in what appears to be a reciprocal gesture after Seoul removed about 20 of its own earlier this week.

Pyongyang had installed around 40 devices broadcasting unsettling sounds — from metallic scraping to eerie, ghost-like noises — toward the South. These transmissions had disturbed residents in border regions like Paju, Gimpo, and Yeoncheon for nearly a year.

The noise campaign ended at midnight on June 12, just hours after South Korea halted its own loudspeaker broadcasts following an order from newly elected President Lee Jae-myung. Since taking office in June after a snap election, Lee has sought to ease tensions, suspending cross-border propaganda that previously included K-pop, news, and political messages. He also urged civic groups to stop sending anti-North Korean leaflets and expressed willingness to hold talks without preconditions.

A similar dismantling occurred in 2018 under the Panmunjom Declaration, but the agreement later collapsed. Seoul resumed broadcasts in mid-2024 after Pyongyang sent thousands of trash-filled balloons across the border in retaliation for South Korean activists launching propaganda leaflets. South Korean officials framed their broadcasts — which can travel over 20 kilometers — as delivering “messages of light and hope” to the North’s people and military.

Lee has pledged to end both propaganda broadcasts and leaflet launches. His predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, was impeached in December and charged with insurrection after briefly declaring martial law over what he claimed was a planned “rebellion” by pro-North opposition forces.

South Korea and its ally, the United States, remain technically at war with North Korea since 1953, and Pyongyang continues to condemn their joint military drills as preparations for an attack.

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