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South Korea halts radio broadcast into North Korea in peace overture

Published: 01 Sep. 2025, 11:19

North Korea's loudspeaker aimed at the South is installed next to a North Korean guard post seen from a border area in Paju, Gyeonggi, on Aug. 14. [YONHAP]

South Korea has halted the broadcast of a propaganda radio program into North Korea, the Defense Ministry said Monday, as the South seeks to mend frayed ties with the North.

The move is the latest in Seoul's reconciliatory gestures, with President Lee Jae Myung vowing to restore inter-Korean ties and resume dialogue with Pyongyang.

"The Defense Ministry has halted the 'Voice of Freedom' broadcast as part of efforts to ease inter-Korean military tensions," the ministry said in a notice to reporters.

South Korea had aired K-pop and news into North Korea through the halted radio program. Last year, it broadcast news on North Korea's deployment of troops to Russia in support of its war against Ukraine.

The ministry reportedly halted the broadcast starting earlier in the day, marking the first suspension of the radio program in 15 years. South Korea resumed the radio program in May 2010, following North Korea's deadly attack on the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan.

Since taking office in June, Lee has ordered the military to stop propaganda broadcasts along the border with the North and urged activists to stop sending balloons across the border, in efforts to reduce tensions.

The National Intelligence Service has also suspended all of its decades-old broadcasts targeting the North Korean regime in July.

Yonhap