The outlook for Inter-Korean relations remains bleak as South Korea resumed its anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts in response to the North’s latest nuke test, a move certain to agitate the North.
On Friday, South Korea re-started its cross-border loudspeaker broadcasts carrying anti-North Korea messages in about four months in retaliation for North Korea’s claims of a successful hydrogen bomb test earlier this week.
The North has yet to show any response to Seoul’s resumed psychological warfare.
In August, the South resumed high-decibel loudspeaker campaigns for the first time in 11 years in response to a land-mine blast near the border on the North which maimed two South Korean soldiers.
North Korea is highly sensitive to Seoul’s loudspeaker broadcasts as messages critical of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and promoting democracy are feared to sap the morales of North Koreans who are living under Kim’s iron-fisted rule.
Last August, North Korea gave a 48-hour ultimatum to South Korea to end the propaganda broadcasts, warning it would launch “strong military action” otherwise.
Seoul’s latest move is based on its belief that North Korea violated the two Koreas’ rare deal on Aug. 25 to defuse military tension.
In the wake of the landmine incident and subsequent exchanges of firing, they reached a package of agreements in August to ease tension and make efforts to improve their ties. At that time, Seoul said it would resume the loudspeaker broadcasts if an “abnormal” situation presented itself.
“The North’s nuclear test itself constitutes a violation of the August agreement,” Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman at the Unification Ministry, told a press briefing on Friday.
“The government plans to take necessary measures to guarantee the safety of South Korean nationals.”
The South has vowed to make Pyongyang “pay the price” for its provocation while Seoul and Washington have agreed to work together to forge a united and strong international response to North Korea’s latest reckless behavior.
Inter-Korean relations will likely inevitably face severe strains following a short-lived reconciliatory mood earned from the August deal, experts say.
“North Korea may take provocative action such as the launch of a short-range missile,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
He said that if Seoul activists send anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, the North may react to the South’s move violently by firing guns at the balloons launched by activists as it did in October 2014.
At that time, some bullet rounds landed in the South’s territory, but no one was hurt.
“North Korea is likely to continue to use its pattern of raising tension on the Korean Peninsula,” the professor said.
The North’s nuclear provocation is also expected to dampen burgeoning signs of an increase in inter-Korean civilian exchanges.
The government announced Thursday plans to restrict its citizens’ contact with North Koreans and their visits to the communist country for the time being.
Meanwhile, Seoul remains prudent in its decision not to temporarily shutdown the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, despite Pyongyang’s latest nuke test.
The government said that it is not at the stage yet to talk about a possible closure of the complex or the withdrawal of South Koreans there. (Yonhap)
