S Korea intensifies anti-North campaign

Seoul decided to restart propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts against Pyongyang after North Korea announced this week that it had successfully tested a hydrogen nuclear device.   “We are putting out critical messages about Kim Jong Un’s regime and its fourth nuclear test, saying North Korea’s nuclear weapons development is putting its people in more difficult times economically,” a military official said. 

While North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un celebrated his 32nd birthday, the international community scrambled to find common ground on how best to penalise his regime following its shock announcement two days ago that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. The recent up-beat K-pop hit “Bang, Bang, Bang” and a mournful ballad about a “death angel,” were on the playlist for the resumption of broadcasts. “We have selected a diverse range of the most recent popular hits to make it interesting,” a defence ministry official said in a briefing for local reporters on Friday. 

The ministry gave no indication that the songs had been chosen with the intention of sending any underlying message to the North. Pressure tactic The broadcasts, which also blare out weather forecasts, snippets of news and critiques of the North Korean regime, revives psychological warfare tactics that date back to the 1950-53 Korean War. But they can be remarkably effective. 

Their use during a dangerous flare-up in cross-border tensions last year infuriated Pyongyang, which at one point threatened artillery strikes against the loudspeaker units unless they were switched off. The South finally pulled the plug after an agreement was reached in August to de-escalate a situation that had brought the two rivals to the brink of an armed conflict. Now they are back -- punishment for Wednesday’s surprise nuclear test, which triggered global condemnation and concern, despite expert opinion that the yield was far too low to support the North’s claim that the device was an H-bomb.