08 January 2016•Update: 12 January 2016
By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea struck at the heart of the North Korean regime Friday, by blaring anti-Pyongyang propaganda in response to the North’s nuclear test this week.
Wednesday’s blast -- which Pyongyang claimed involved hydrogen bomb technology -- is set to provoke yet another United Nations Security Council response aimed at reining in North Korea’s nuclear weapon ambitions, following a series of resolutions after past provocations by the North.
The reclusive state has now defied the international community by carrying out four nuclear tests since its first in 2006.
Rather than relying on sanctions alone, the South switched on loudspeakers at 11 sites along the inter-Korean border at noon Friday according to Seoul’s defense ministry, which warned that there would be an immediate retaliation if the North opened fire on the loudspeakers.
The contents of the broadcast reaching several kilometers northward were diverse, including popular music from recent decades as well as more serious criticisms of North Korea’s human rights.
The last time South Korea organized such a campaign of psychological warfare, it appeared to force Pyongyang’s hand to the extent that it led to August’s much celebrated bilateral cooperation deal.
Given that the North views border propaganda as an act of war, Friday’s move would not have been a welcome gift to leader Kim Jong-un on his 33rd birthday.
Then again Seoul had said that it would resume its broadcasts in the case of North Korean misbehavior.
Even as tensions threatened to spill over, operations continued at the Kaesong Industrial Complex just north of the border where 124 firms from the South operate.
“At this stage, we don't think it is appropriate to talk about the withdrawal or closure of the complex,” said spokesperson Jeong Joon-hee of South Korea’s unification ministry, which restricted access to Kaesong from south of the border a day earlier.
The Kaesong facility shut down for several months amid high tensions on the peninsula following the North’s nuclear test in 2013.
