North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong said in a statement on the 21st that psychological-warfare loudspeakers aimed at the South will be operational along the whole border within October. Seoul’s military is weighing a proportionate response, including restarting its own loudspeakers and radio.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, Kim Yo Jong, head of a Workers’ Party department, said in a statement on the 21st that ‘within October, the psychological-warfare loudspeakers against South Korea will enter operation along all border lines’. Carried by the Korean Central News Agency, it raises the tone from the 19th, when she said resuming them was ‘under review’. The 21st marked one month since a landmine blast in the Demilitarized Zone on the western front.
광고 문의 · 300×250North Korean media said Kim that day toured the southern-border fortification sites with Pak Jong Chon, an adviser at the defense ministry, and Ri Il Hwan, a party secretary. She said Kim Jong Un ordered the border line made permanent, while Pak stressed that any provocation must be met with immediate counterstrikes.
The reasons Pyongyang gives
In her statement on the 19th, Kim claimed South Korean forces carried out 2,870 loudspeaker warnings and 201 warning shots between August 1 and October 17. Those figures are North Korea’s claim and have not been independently verified. Seoul said last month that the blast was caused by a mine North Korean troops planted while turning the military demarcation line into a border, and the military judges that the North crossed the line about 50 times in August and September.
Options the South Korean military is weighing
On the 20th the military said that if the North begins broadcasts, it will consider resuming its own loudspeakers under the principle of proportionate response. The Kyunghyang listed three options: restarting the loudspeakers, reviving the Psychological Operations Group’s ‘Voice of Freedom’ radio, and resuming the National Intelligence Service’s radio and TV broadcasts to the North. Voice of Freedom has been off the air since September last year.
There is also caution. An immediate response could raise tension at the border, and resumed broadcasts could bring noise and health harm to border residents. Experts read the North’s intent differently: Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification saw a signal of matching action if warnings and shots continue, while Prof. Lim Eul-chul of Kyungnam University saw an intent to dampen Seoul’s vigilance and finish the fortification work. The Lee Jae-myung government halted its loudspeakers soon after taking office in June 2025, and the North stopped its own broadcasts the same month.
