S. Korea’s loudspeakers towards N. Korea

The morning of Nonsan Army Training Center begins with a lively song. Many military songs and sound songs were played when I was in the training center. Songs that I heard when I was training in the scorching heat, such as "Anthem for My Homeland," were buzzing around in my head. Lyrics that read “Korea, my homeland, a beautiful country in the far east” and melodies still left in my head and such symptom is called the ear worm. If we continue listening to songs with lyrics that do not fit in our times over and over, we no longer raise questions on the meaning of songs. It is because of that we continue to hear such songs repeatedly.

Turtles, Lee Chi-hyung & his friends, Yang Hee-eun, Deulgukhwa, Lim Chang-jung, and GFRIEND. They are singers and musicians whose songs are the most played last year via loudspeakers so that North Korean soldiers stationed near the front line can hear. Psychological Operations Group (POG) aired news and songs such as Korean pop songs, development story of South Korea, truth of the North Korean regime by using huge 48 loudspeakers (50W). Someone in North Korean Army may carefully listen to or hum songs heard from speakers. The soldiers must have been intrigued by the death of Kim Jong Nam by learning from loudspeakers.

A North Korean security guard defected to South Korea through Yeoncheon in Gyeonggi Province on June 13 and he said he was yearning for South Korea by listening to the news via loud speakers. This proves that loudspeaker does make sense and takes a part to shake the North starting from the front line. When South Korean military resume loudspeaker operations in 11 years in August 2015 in reaction to the land mine provocation, North Korea fiercely protested and fired anti-aircraft guns. The country later asked earnestly to stop the operation at a meeting with high level officials of both Koreas as they feared the spread of freedom and truth.

The government plans to propose working-level military talks to North Korea. It is a follow-up measure for the proposal of President Moon in Berlin. President Moon recently suggested for the two countries to stop hostile activities in the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) as of June 27 to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice. Some observe that suspension on loudspeaker operations towards the North could be an agenda of the meeting. North Korea called the president’s announcement in Berlin as a sophistry like sleep talking. It seems that the government is rushing to the talks. Some North Korean soldiers may secretly want to listen to more South Korean songs and news via loudspeakers.