S Korea halts propaganda

Photo: The Canadian Press

South Korea halted anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts across the rivals' tense border on Monday ahead of inter-Korean talks this week that are expected to focus on the North's nuclear program, Seoul officials said.

Seoul had blasted anti-Pyongyang messages and K-pop songs from border loudspeakers since the North's fourth nuclear test in early 2016. Pyongyang quickly matched Seoul's campaign with its own border broadcasts and launches of balloons carrying anti-South leaflets across the border.

South Korea, however, turned off its broadcasts to try to ease military tensions and establish an environment for peaceful talks, Seoul's Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It said Seoul hopes its action would lead to both sides stopping mutual slander and propaganda activities. Yonhap news agency reported unspecified North Korean broadcasts were sporadically heard in the South on Monday morning. South Korean defence officials said they couldn't immediately confirm the status of the North's broadcasts.

The move came amid a recent thaw of animosities, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un trying to reach out to Seoul and Washington in recent months.

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are to meet at a border village on Friday in the rivals' third-ever summit talks. Kim is to hold separate summit talks with President Donald Trump in May or early June.

Kim has said he was willing to place his nuclear program up for negotiations. But it was unclear how serious disarmament steps he would offer during the two sets of the summit talks. U.S. officials have said they want to the North to take complete disarmament measures.

North Korea said Saturday it would close its nuclear testing facility and suspend nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. But the country stopped short of suggesting it has any intention of giving up its nuclear weapons or scale back its production of missiles and their related component parts.