North Korea Says Border Loudspeakers Will Be Ready Within Days as Tensions Rise

North Korea says it will have propaganda loudspeakers aimed at South Korea ready to restart within days along the entire length of the border. Kim Yo-jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong-un, made the announcement in statements carried by state news agency KCNA, according to The Guardian and Al Jazeera.

If the broadcasts resume, they would be the first loudspeaker exchange across the border in 16 months, The Guardian reported. South Korea, for its part, has asked Pyongyang to talk about ways to ease tensions.

How relations reached this point

• December 2023: Kim Jong-un declared the two Koreas to be two states hostile to each other, The Guardian reported. North Korea has since laid mines, strung barbed wire and built anti-tank barriers along the frontier. Al Jazeera reported that the fortification work has been under way since 2024, as the North seeks what it calls a permanent border.
• June 2025: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung suspended his country's loudspeaker broadcasts just days into his presidency, in an effort to ease tensions with Pyongyang.
• August 2025: South Korea's military dismantled its speakers, according to The Guardian.
• September: A landmine blast south of the military demarcation line injured three South Korean soldiers, two of them seriously. Seoul and the UN command, which oversees the 1953 armistice that halted but did not end the Korean War, concluded that it was a North Korean anti-personnel mine and a violation of the armistice. North Korea denied responsibility.
• This week: Kim Yo-jong said on Wednesday that loudspeakers would operate along the whole border, after she toured fortification points with a senior military adviser. In a follow-up statement on Thursday, she said they would be on standby within days.

What each side is saying

Kim Yo-jong said the border had been blocked more thoroughly and turned into a fortress, and that her brother wants it to be a permanent line never to be crossed. According to Al Jazeera, she also warned of a very distressing situation for Seoul if it continues what Pyongyang describes as interference in the North's internal affairs, and said unspecified new counter means would be put on alert along the border.

Pyongyang called the mine incident a staged event and a South Korean fabrication, and has accused Southern troops of firing warning shots and making warning broadcasts at multiple locations near the line. Seoul says North Korean soldiers have repeatedly crossed the military demarcation line during construction work, and that its troops responded with warnings over loudspeakers and warning shots, which it called legitimate and defensive measures.

At a briefing on Thursday, a South Korean defense ministry spokesperson said that if the North goes ahead, a proportional response would be needed, but that no decision has been made. The joint chiefs of staff said they had observed routine maintenance of the North's loudspeakers even before Kim Yo-jong's statements.

Why it matters for the border and for regional stability

Both Koreas have long used giant loudspeakers to blast messages across one of the world's most heavily armed borders. In recent years the North has played eerie animal howls, while the South has broadcast K-pop music and news that criticizes Pyongyang. According to Al Jazeera, those broadcasts have long irritated the North and prompted tit-for-tat responses.

The renewed threat comes with no open channel between the two sides. Al Jazeera reported that Pyongyang cut off a military hotline after declaring it would no longer seek dialogue or unification with the South. South Korea's defense ministry has said it wants talks to ease tension at the border and to prevent an accidental military clash.

What to watch next

The North has said its speakers will be on standby within days, while Seoul has not decided how it would respond if the broadcasts begin. Whether talks on easing border tensions take place remains unclear.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by The Guardian, Al Jazeera