South Korea Resumes Propaganda Broadcasts to North

Amid high tension over the sinking of its warship, South Korea has restarted propaganda broadcasts to the North, reported BBC.

Late on Monday, it started playing radio programmes, which are to be broadcast via border loudspeakers, report said.

A spokesman of South Korea’s defence ministry said that the first radio programme entitled as Voice of Freedon was aired last evening and would be broadcast thrice a day, said report.

He also said that the programme would be relayed using high-performance loudspeakers installed along the demilitarised zone, report said.

“Initially we are installing loudspeakers at 14 places along the DMZ (Demilitarised Zone). The installation requires several months of work,” AFP quoted the spokesman as saying.

Seoul, which has already suspended trade ties with Pyongyang over the sinking, said that it would drop propaganda leaflets into the North to inform people of the Cheonan incident as soon as possible and set up giant electronic billboards to flash messages, said report.

The Cheonan sank near the inter-Korean maritime border on 26 March. An international panel said that a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sent the ship down; however, Pyongyang denied this.

South Korean intends to refer North Korea to the UN Security Council and is seeking a unified international response to the incident.

The US has deplored the incident and supported South Korea, confirming late on Monday that it would hold joint naval exercises with the country.

China, which holds a veto in the Security Council and has in the past been reluctant to impose tough measures on Pyongyang, has so far called for calm and restraint.

On Tuesday Wu Dawei, China’s special representative for Korean affairs, arrived in Seoul for talks with Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also due in Seoul for talks on Wednesday.