South Korea Switches Off Loudspeaker Broadcasts into North

South Korea turned off Sound system which play pop music, radio dramas and news and other propaganda over the border at high volume, were turned off in the early hours of Monday morning. As symbolic peaceful overture and goodwill.
The move aimed to “ease the military tension between the two Koreas and develop a peaceful summit atmosphere,” spokesman Choi Hoi-hyun told reporters.
“We hope this decision will lead both Koreas to stop mutual criticism and propaganda against each other and also contribute in creating peace and a new beginning.”
The South’s Defense Ministry said it switched off all batteries of the propaganda loudspeakers along the inter-Korean border, known as the Demilitarized Zone, days before its president, Moon Jae-in, is to join the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, there on Friday for a summit meeting.
It said the decision was made to help “ease military tensions and create a peaceful mood for the meeting.”
The move comes as Donald Trump cautioned the nuclear crisis on the peninsula was a long way from being resolved.
South Korea has stopped broadcasting propaganda across its border with North Korea for the first time in more than two years, just days before the countries’ leaders are to meet in a historic summit.
For decades, loudspeakers have been a fixture along the border, beckoning soldiers to defect to the other side. South Korea turned off loudspeakers, silencing weapons of psychological warfare so annoying to the North that its military once fired shots across the border.
South Korean officials said the North was expected to reciprocate the South’s initiative by turning off its own propaganda loudspeakers. Because of electricity shortages in the North, its loudspeakers have not been as powerful as the South’s, South Korean military officials said.
 
>Juthy Saha