North Korean Economy Watch

According to the Choson Ilbo:

The Defense Ministry is preparing to enlarge the range of propaganda broadcasts and float radios to North Korea, which is refusing to admit responsibility for the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in March.

During a National Assembly audit of the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said the ministry is preparing to switch the format of propaganda broadcasts from FM to AM and float balloons carrying AM radios to the North so that North Koreans can listen to the broadcasts.

The South has in the past sent many radios to the North, Kim said. He added the balloons will also carry propaganda leaflets.

“We’ve already put psychological pressure on the North merely by installing loudspeakers for propaganda broadcasts at 11 locations” along the military demarcation line, the minister claimed. But he added that the government will not start the broadcasts and send the leaflets, which are ready, until the North launches a fresh provocation and there is therefore an urgent need to put pressure on the North.

The New York Times offers some good supplemental information:

After six years of quiet along the border, South Korea has reinstalled 11 sets of psychological warfare loudspeakers, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Tuesday in Seoul. He said his ministry had switched its transmitters to the easier-to-receive AM band and was ready to send thousands of AM radios and propaganda leaflets across the border using helium balloons.

A continuing balloon and leaflet campaign by South Korean civilians has angered the North Korean government, which suggests that it has been effective. The leaflets ridicule the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, and call for people in the North to rise up. North Korea insisted that the leaflet issue be put on the agenda of recent bilateral military talks.

…

North and South Korea agreed in 2000 to dismantle the loudspeaker systems along the border and to stop radio transmissions. There have been no loudspeaker blasts since 2004, although South Korea made a show of putting some speakers in place in May, after the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan, in March. Forty-six sailors were killed. The North has denied any involvement.

Read the full story here
Gov’t in Drive to Send Radios to N.Korea
Choson Ilbo
10/7/2010

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 at 10:02 pm and is filed under Radio, South Korea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.