After the abrogation of the 2018 inter-Korean agreement, the military is ready to turn on loudspeakers near the border with North Korea

The South Korean military said on Tuesday it remained prepared to immediately deploy mobile loudspeakers near the border with North Korea as Seoul took steps to completely suspend a 2018 inter-Korean military pact.

Earlier on the same day, the Cabinet had agreed to suspend the comprehensive military agreement in response to the North’s garbage balloon campaign and the jamming of GPS signals in recent days.

The motion will be submitted to President Yoon Suk Yeol for signature. The suspension will allow South Korea to resume its large-scale military exercises near the border and resume its propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers to the North.

Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Lee Sung-jun said various measures could be taken after the suspension, pointing out that the military uses both fixed and mobile loudspeakers on the front lines.

“Fixed speakers need to be plugged in and can take hours or days to install,” Lee said at a regular meeting. “Mobile speakers can be installed immediately.”

Loudspeakers blared criticism of the Kim Jong-un regime’s human rights violations, news reports and K-pop songs, sparking angry reactions in Pyongyang.

A government source said there were apparently no plans to install the stationary equipment immediately, as such activities could escalate military tensions. Moreover, if such transmissions resume, the military would probably first deploy the mobile equipment.

Meanwhile, Lee declined to elaborate on the measures the military might take after the pact is lifted, but noted that they would depend on North Korea’s actions.

“There are things we can do immediately, and we could make them public, and many of those things depend heavily on North Korea,” he said.

The 2018 agreement included the establishment of buffer zones along the border to suspend large-scale military exercises, as well as a ban on “hostile” acts between the two Koreas, which limited broadcasts over loudspeakers. (Yonhap)