Plagued by eerie broadcasts, South Korean border residents hope Trump’s return will ease tensions with the North
North Korea has been broadcasting unbearable sounds for months close to its border with the South, in their latest wave of psychological warfare.
A North Korean loudspeaker, top left, a military guard post, top right, and a South Korean military guard post, bottom, are seen from Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
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GANGHWA COUNTY, South Korea: For South Koreans living close to the North, life has been unbearable for months.
Every day since July last year, loudspeakers on the other side of the inter-Korean border have been blaring haunting noises or loud crackly ones, like a gong being beaten or metal grinding. Other sounds include screaming, dogs howling and gunshots.
These North Korean broadcasts have affected villages near the border like Dangsan-ri in Ganghwa County, located about 1.7km away from the hermit kingdom.
Residents have asked the South Korean defence ministry and other government officials for help, saying the sounds seem straight out of a horror movie. But the issue has not been resolved.
Now, with Donald Trump’s return to the White House just days away, they are hoping the incoming United States president can help them.
Relations between America and North Korea have stalled under current US President Joe Biden’s administration, contributing to escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The two Koreas are still technically at war after their 1950 to 1953 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
“PLEASE SAVE US”
The North’s broadcasts are believed to be a retaliatory measure against the South’s resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts in July, playing K-pop songs and anti-North Korean propaganda messages.
This was in response to Pyongyang launching hundreds of trash-filled balloons across the border. The two Koreas had been engaged in a tit-for-tat balloon campaign.
This latest wave of psychological warfare drove Dangsan-ri resident An Mi-hee to fall to her knees in parliament last October, begging for a solution.
“Please save us,” she wailed in front of lawmakers.
Her mother and fellow resident Kim Ok-soon told CNA that her two grandchildren are unable to sleep through the nights and often get startled awake. One child is in first grade, while the other is in third grade.
“Since they can't sleep well, they keep getting mouth ulcers, their mouths hurt, and then they have to go to the doctor and get medication,” Kim said.
“When it gets severe, they can't even eat so they have to be fed by IV drip. Watching all that, imagine how desperate their mother must have been?”
Kim’s husband Ahn Hyo-cheol said the sounds are affecting their mental health, and are nothing like the propaganda broadcasts that North Korea used to play.
Loudspeakers have been a fixture of the demilitarised zone since the 1960s.
“They (used to) just play songs praising (the late North Korean leader) Kim Il Sung or the Kim family, or run interviews or plays, and they had scheduled times like 12pm or 1pm, so we knew when to expect them. But now they do whatever they want,” Ahn added.
“They broadcast to stress out the people here. When I was younger, bullets used to fly here … But we never felt this troubled mentally.”
Their village has a population of about 350, with most residents in their 60s and older.
POSSIBLE THAT TRUMP, KIM WILL MEET AGAIN
With Trump re-entering the White House next Monday (Jan 20), these residents hope it will help reduce hostilities and stop North Korea from broadcasting such agonising sounds.
Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times during his first term from 2017 to 2021. Notably, their 2018 summit in Singapore was the first-ever meeting between leaders of both countries.
However, talks ended in 2019 without any agreement from North Korea to denuclearise.
As Trump takes office once again, experts said they think there is a possibility of another meeting.
“I think it’s correct to say that both sides want to meet. However, what is important is when and how the meeting will take place,” said researcher Yang Wook from the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
Yang said it is unlikely that the North Korean leader will want to hold a meeting “as easily as he did in the past”.
“It’s true there was a short period of peace during Trump’s administration,” he added.
“(Trump) is not trying to resolve the fundamental issue, but during his term, if he can boast about those short-term achievements, then that is enough for him.”
For those living along the border, they hope Trump’s return contributes to at least a temporary easing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula – and a reprieve from the North’s eerie broadcasts.
