North Korea News Podcast by NK News - ROK restarts propaganda loudspeakers, and North Korean construction inside DMZ

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

North Korea bombarded the South with hundreds more waste-carrying balloons over the weekend, leading Seoul to set up loudspeakers along the border and carry out a propaganda broadcast for the first time since 2018. Meanwhile, NK News analysis has found that the DPRK is clearing land inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at six different locations, […]

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That's shop.nknews.org. hello listeners and welcome to the nk news podcast i'm your host jacko zwetzler today it is tuesday the 11th of june and i'm joined here in the studio by ifang bremer ifang welcome back on the show yes good morning we've got lots to talk about north korea's been keeping us busy the last week and I'm joined here in the studio by Yifang Bremer. Yifang, welcome back on the show. Yes, good morning. We've got lots to talk about. North Korea's been keeping us busy the last week with balloons and loudspeakers on both sides. Where do you want to start? When you say balloons and loudspeakers,

that kind of sounds like a party. It should be fun. Or a children's party, anyway. Yes, so North Korea sent more balloons with trash? Or a children's party, anyway. Yeah, so North Korea sent more balloons with trash? Yes. So, I mean, when was the first balloon, North Korean balloon, trash?

Hey, I asked the question. Right, okay. But I want to say, let's say three to four weeks ago. Okay, yeah. So then on Thursday, a new cycle of balloons started. So to take you back a little bit, so North Korea started sending trash balloons in response to South Korean-based activists who sent balloons with anti-North Korean leaflets. Is that Park Sang-hak?

Yes, that's mainly Park Sang-hak. Some of those balloons of his actually ended up in North Korea. I understand that he doesn't have a very high success rate, but some of them did end up in North Korea. I understand that he doesn't have a very high success rate, but some of them did end up in North Korea. Exactly, and Kim Jong-un hates that. He hates balloons, anything coming from South Korea. So on Thursday, even though North Korea started sending their own trash balloons, Park Sang-hak again sent balloons towards the North.

So that happened on Thursday. On Sunday, North Korea answered that with another couple dozen balloons. And then that same day, South Korea restarted its propaganda broadcasts. So you have to imagine these are gigantic loudspeakers aimed at the north, positioned at several spots

along the inter-Korean border. And on Sunday, South Korea, for the first time in years, did a test. Right. Yeah. I remember they started this, I think, when Park Geun-hye was president, after the two South Korean soldiers were injured by the mine. So I think in 2015, they started that again. Then they ended it when Moon Jae-in was president, if I'm not mistaken. So it's been a few years since we've had it here. But now South Korea's set up the giant arrays of loudspeakers, camouflage green, sort of olive green colored loudspeakers. And they've tested them, but they haven't yet fully started the broadcast or the playing of music and information to North Korea. That's my understanding.

Yeah, so they did a test on Sunday and this kind of sounds like a radio broadcast. You have a weather report of North Korea but also the price of consumer goods in North Korea will be broadcasted mixed up with some K-pop, all kinds of interesting things. And we just saw a video from South Korea's Ministry of National Defense that these speakers are not just static. They're also mounted on trucks.

Ah, so they can be moved around. Yeah, they now have these trucks that they can move to any spot on the border. Right. And you will see these soldiers, and they have this remote control and gigantic speakers will be erected from the truck so they're kind of you know going up right so they're mobile speakers as well and and depending on where you turn those loudspeakers on they can be heard quite some distance in the north korea and some of those places near the border there's a lot of flat plains and and that can really that sound can carry for some

distance into north korea yeah and of course it it depends on weather conditions wind direction as well but presumably according to south korea's uh ministry of defense it can reach up to several kilometers way beyond the front line potentially reaching also north korean villages i would say and this is of course something that Kim Jong-un really doesn't want because any kind of threat to the information monopoly by the state is a big threat to Kim. Yeah, yeah, right. And in fact, the last time South Korea did this,

North Korea threatened to shoot those loudspeakers, didn't it? I mean, I think they also shot some rounds back in 2015. Right, I don't think they actually destroyed any loudspeakers, but yeah, they did try to, and they made it clear that they were very, very angry about it. But now I understand this time around, North Korea is setting up its own loudspeakers to compete. Yeah, so yesterday, quite late during the day here in South Korea,

we received information from the ROK military that North Korea is also restoring loudspeakers in response to South Korea's propaganda test broadcast. They haven't been operating just yet, but this is very fresh. So this is late on Monday. Today, we're talking today is Tuesday. Definitely some new development could happen. definitely some new development could happen but interestingly south korean media was citing an anonymous government source that they're not expecting north korea to broadcast any anti-south korean propaganda but more likely it'll be noise to block out any south korean

broadcasting because they want to prevent any villagers or soldiers from hearing that. Right. So, yeah. It's actually, it's a little bit like in the 1990s when I lived very close to the border with North Korea and I was able to pick up a North Korean TV signal on my television, but it was mixed with the South Korean jamming signal that the South Korean military broadcast on the same frequency to try to block that North Korean frequency. So you would see an unclear picture from North Korea together with the jamming signal. So this is basically a kind of a crude way of North Korea trying to jam the South Korean propaganda by playing its own messaging or its own noise, white noise perhaps, into the air to sort of block or at least muddle the sound so much

that North Koreans can't hear that. I certainly, in that situation, I would not want to be living anywhere near the Demilitarized Zone in North Korea because that might give you quite a headache hour after hour of competing loudspeaker noise. Yeah, I mean, I can't really imagine if you have a speaker that can reach several kilometers, how loud that must be. Right.

Yeah, I mean, maybe it's a strange thought, but I also thought about the wildlife in the D.C. Yes, that's right. There's a very diverse wildlife there who might be quite surprised getting suddenly sandwiched in between inter-Korean speaker broadcasts. Well, and, yeah, potentially traumatized, I suppose, right? I mean, you know, just as an example there, getting suddenly sandwiched in between inter-Korean speaker broadcasts. Well, and yeah, potentially traumatized, I suppose, right? I mean, you know, just as an example there,

in the Netherlands every year when they have the fireworks on the last day of the year, that can be quite difficult for animals, pet animals, to stand. Dogs and cats can look for places to hide when they hear the sounds of the fireworks being let off. And in the same situation here, I suppose, if you have a bass noise coming, you can really feel that, and that might make animals run away and have accidents. Yeah, so lots of interesting things happening. We're not yet seeing this develop in any kind of kinetic military action. Right, that's a good thing.

That's a good thing, but that is obviously what everyone here is worried about. The threat is never far behind. Yeah, because these are very quick developments, you know.

This is every day there's something new happening. Yep. First it's a balloon, then it's a loudspeaker, then it's a North Korean loudspeaker, so. And then it's mobile

loudspeakers. It's mobile loudspeakers. You can imagine North Korea is trying to block it and then South Korea is trying to block it, and then South Korea is going to move it 100 meters to the left or to the right to try to broadcast it there, and then North Korea is going to move its loudspeakers, arrays,

and it's going to be terrible. Yeah, so I think the biggest risk right now is human error and any kind of miscalculation, overly emotional response on either side. Not really thought through actions. So rather than the loudspeakers, it's the rapid pace of developments right now that make it quite worrisome. Yeah.

And for anybody flying out or into Korean airspace, those balloons can affect air traffic. So that could be a concern too. Yeah, they can delay your flights. It's happened already. Yeah. Coming back to the balloons for a moment there, I've been very curious to see what North Korea might be sending over. You know, I'm always interested in those propaganda leaflets,

but it seems that this time they really are just sending 100% trash and not even interesting trash. Because, you know, as we know here at NK News, Chad and others have analyzed North Korean garbage and looking at product information. But a lot of the stuff that came over the last weekend, at least as reported by South Korean media, was Chinese product packaging and Chinese paper, or rather paper with Chinese language printed on it. So there was nothing interesting from North Korea, nothing that you could learn about North Korean

society or the commercial world from that trash. Yeah, I mean maybe that's also a conscious decision. I think it is quite a deliberate choice that North Korea is determined not to let information about life inside North Korea slip out so it's happy to send as much

Chinese trash as possible. Yeah, yeah. And also blank leaflets, just white papers. I also saw those falling on Seoul. Okay, I haven't seen any of those yet. Blank leaflets. Wow, what a wasted opportunity. Now, there's also something else going on inside the Demilitarized Zone that you reported on as an NK News exclusive last week.

So tell us about that. Yeah, so this started in May when I visited the inter-Korean border all the way on the east side. And I was at the Go-Song... Observatory? Observatory, looking into North Korea with a big zoom lens. And I saw North Korean soldiers on the side of a mountain doing something and i checked it with satellite imagery and i noticed that there used to be vegetation on that part of the mountain

and not anymore so that got my curiosity going what are they building there it turned out that the last month and i noticed because satellite imagery updates every day, they started clearing a big section of this mountain that's overlooking the border with the south. So then at the time I wrote a story about it. It's basically, it looks like a path. So you have the, I'm not sure if all our listeners know what the DMZ looks like, but you have a North Korean fence, then you have the military demarcation line, which marks the middle of the DMZ, and then you

have a South Korean fence. So you basically have three lines. So North Korea started building beyond its final fence, deep into the DMZ, at least at the east side. deep into the DMZ, at least at the east side. And then my colleague Colin, Collins-Werco, suggested me to check along all of the Korean border where there are more of these developments. And then I found that, indeed, at six locations along the inter-Korean border,

spread from east all the way to the west side, there are such constructions going on on the north green side so basically stripping land clearing trees likely demining parts of the border to potentially create either a new fence or new pathways very close to the military demarcation line so this is quite a significant development because it's very uncommon in recent years that either side is doing extensive construction inside DMZ. This is a heavily mined area, obviously. Any kind of construction there is very dangerous.

And we're not entirely sure what North Korea is doing there. South Korea's Ministry of National Defense declined to comment on my questions. They must have their eyes on it too. I'm absolutely sure they do. What about the United Nations Command? The United Nations Command did give me a response. They were a little bit more forthcoming. And they said that North Korea has been hardening its boundaries along the border.

So it's still quite vague, but that kind of suggests that UNC thinks that these are border defenses. Yeah, I'm not quite sure. It's yet to be seen if there will be any kind of weaponry placed on those spots. If that's the case, it will be a very clear violation of the armistice agreement. Is there any suggestion that North Korea may have crossed over the military demarcation line in any of these activities? So of all the six spots that I've analyzed, I saw one spot where North Korea seems to very slightly by a couple of meters

cross the military demarcation line. This is in the middle of the border near Jeollabong. So yeah, and in other instances, they're coming awfully close to the military demarcation line. One other theory that is that a couple months ago, Kim Jong-un said that North Korea will reassess the boundaries of the country, the borders of the country. But, okay, you're looking at satellite photography of the militarized zone.

Now, the United Nations, the armistice agreement between North Korea and the Chinese people's volunteers and the United Nations command, that has a second volume which contains very detailed maps that show exactly where the military demarcation line is at every point from east to west across the peninsula. across there, you would imagine there would be some kind of investigation that the UN command would go in to the demilitarized zone from the southern side, perhaps with some people from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission to look at exactly where the North Koreans are and have they crossed the military demarcation line as it is shown on the maps rather than on satellite photographs. Is there any sign that there is an investigation ongoing at this stage?

At least not publicly. I was quite surprised how mild, I'd say, the response was from both. Well, South Korea didn't reply at all to my questions, but UNC as well said, yeah, we're not seeing any build-up of troops, so therefore we're not seeing any extremely risky situation at the moment. That was kind of their, the gist of what they were saying. Well, to me, it still seems quite significant. Yeah, you literally have soldiers building beyond the final fence.

I am quite surprised that South Korean media did not really pick up on this and that also South Korean Ministry of Defense didn't really feel inclined to comment on this. Yeah, I mean, earlier this year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered officials to redefine North Korea's borders as part of its policy change rejecting peaceful reunification with the South, emphasizing the two Koreas are at war. So in that light, I think any kind of development happening right on the border, yeah, we should definitely keep a close eye on it.

Yeah. Although it should be pointed out that the clearing of vegetation within the Demilitarized Zone is something that's been done by both sides over the decade. Of course. And that in itself, from my understanding, is not a violation of the Armistice Agreement. Right. But if you look at the satellite imagery, and you can see this on our website, the way that they're clearing this vegetation, they're not just patches. They're connected pieces of land in the same shape as their border fences at the moment

so what you'll see is this big patch of green which are all trees and you'll have a line sand colored line right crossing right through it following the demarcation line so it's not just simply uh to clear the view it's definitely uh either going to be a fence being built there or a pathway for soldiers to walk on. Good point. Okay, let's give our listeners the title of that story that you wrote on the clearing of vegetation and possible building in the Demilitarized Zone. What's the title of that piece? Yeah, so if any listeners are curious, the title of the story is north korea clears land at six location inside the dmz fantastic great reporting there and yeah let's keep a close eye on that and see what happens in the coming weeks and months thanks

for coming on the show again today ifan yeah thank you for having me navigating the dynamics of the k Korean Peninsula requires more than just information, it demands insight. Korea Risk Group offers strategic consulting that cuts through the noise. Our experts provide in-depth analysis, risk assessments and bespoke reports, all tailored to your specific needs. Whether you're exploring new opportunities or managing existing challenges, our insights can be your compass.

To learn more about how we can help you make informed strategic decisions, visit careerrisk.com slash solutions today. Ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of our podcast episode for today. Our thanks go to Brian Betts and Alana Hill for facilitating this episode, and to our post-recording producer genius, Gabby Magnusson, who cuts out all the extraneous noises, awkward silences, bodily functions, and fixes the audio levels.

Thank you, and listen again next time.