(2nd LD) N. Korea appears to test propaganda loudspeakers along border

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; UPDATES with more details throughout)

SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea appears to have conducted a test broadcast of its propaganda loudspeakers in areas along the inter-Korean border Thursday, South Korean border residents said, a week after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister issued a warning.

South Korea's military, however, said it has not detected signs of the North operating the loudspeakers, with the National Intelligence Service (NIS) assessing the reports as being erroneous.

Residents in the South Korean border city of Paju said that loudspeaker broadcasts from North Korea began at 6 a.m., adding the volume was relatively low, but the sounds were audible from the early morning.

"At 6:30 a.m., I heard music for a brief moment, followed by faint sounds resembling ghostly wails," said a resident of Daeseongdong, the only civilian village inside the Demilitarized Zone.

On Oct. 22, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, warned that propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts targeting South Korea would be ready along the inter-Korean border within this month. Her warning came a day after she inspected the North's border fortification work and threatened to take military action against South Korean troops over their firing of warning shots at North Korean soldiers crossing the border.

A resident of Tongilchon village in Paju said he heard broadcasts from the North, including sounds resembling ghostly wails and animal cries while harvesting rice Thursday morning.

"The volume was not very high, but it was the same unsettling, unpleasant noise the North used to broadcast years ago. In the past, they would start quietly before suddenly turning up the volume, causing great distress to the residents," said the resident surnamed Park.

The North's broadcasts reportedly continued for about four to five hours.

South Korea's military said, however, no broadcasts have been detected along front-line units, adding that it is closely monitoring related movements.

Officials noted the test transmissions may have reached only flat civilian areas if Pyongyang blared them at a reduced volume.

NIS Director Lee Jong-seok said during a parliamentary audit that media reports on North Korea restarting loudspeaker broadcasts were "not true," adding that a border resident appears to have made an erroneous report, according to Rep. Yoo Yeong-ha of the main opposition People Power Party.

Still, Thursday's test broadcasts could signal that full-scale activation of anti-South propaganda loudspeakers may be imminent.

The two Koreas had halted border loudspeakers for about six years under a 2018 inter-Korean summit agreement before Seoul resumed them in June 2014 under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol government in response to Pyongyang's sending of trash-carrying balloons across the border. North Korea took the same measure in retaliation the following month.

The incumbent Lee Jae Myung administration suspended the broadcasts shortly after taking office in June last year as part of efforts to ease inter-Korean tensions, prompting the North to follow suit the same month.

ycm@yna.co.kr
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