North Korea appears to test propaganda loudspeakers near South Korean border

Residents in South Korea’s border city of Paju heard broadcasts from the North early Thursday, including music and sounds they described as ghostly or like animal cries.

The reported broadcasts began at 6 a.m.

and lasted about four to five hours, but South Korea’s military said it had detected none at its front-line units.

The apparent test came a week after Kim Yo-jong warned broadcasts would be ready along the border within the month.

The two Koreas have used loudspeaker broadcasts as part of their tensions, and both sides had suspended them after a 2018 summit agreement.

South Korea resumed its broadcasts in June 2024 in response to North Korean trash-carrying balloons, and North Korea followed with its own broadcasts the next month.

South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung administration later suspended its broadcasts, and North Korea also stopped that month.

The test may signal a possible return of full-scale North Korean broadcasts, while South Korea’s military says it is monitoring developments.