[Text Fwd] Defense Ministry considers resuming psychological warfare against N.Korea

Hankyoreh
Defense Ministry considers resuming psychological warfare against N.Korea N.Korea and S.Korea agreed to suspend propaganda activities along the MDL in 2004
Posted on : May.11,2010 12:29 KST

Soldiers remove equipment used to make propaganda statements against the North Korean government at the MDL in Paju, Gyeonggi Province as a part of the agreement during general-level military talks on June 4, 2004. 　

The Ministry of National Defense announced Monday it is considering a plan to resume psychological warfare against North Korea. This would include announcements to North Korea along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) as a measure in response to the sinking of the Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan. Such broadcasts have been suspended since June 2004. There has been concern that if South Korea resumes loudspeaker broadcasts to North Korea, it could result in a seriously detrimental effect on inter-Korean relations as a whole.

Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said a working-level team was examining whether to restart psychological warfare against North Korea as part of research to cultivate various responses if the joint civilian-military investigation team looking into the sinking of the Cheonan finds that the ship was sunk by North Korea. He said the Defense Ministry plans to wait until the investigation results come out, and that nothing has yet been decided upon. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young reportedly directed the ministry last week to report how much time and money would be needed to restart the broadcasts.

The two Koreas agreed during general-level military talks on June 4, 2004 to end propaganda activities along the MDL and remove propaganda equipment. In fact, North Korea and South Korea ended propaganda activities on June 15, 2004, the fourth anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration, and by August 15 of that year removed all propaganda equipment, including loudspeakers, in a three-stage process. In the agreement made at the time, the two Koreas also agreed not to reinstall the propaganda equipment or restart propaganda activities. If South Korea were to unilaterally restart loudspeaker broadcasts, it would signify that South Korea was the first to break the agreement.

In response, Won said they were considering psychological warfare against North Korea predicated on North Korea being directly involved in the sinking of the Cheonan. He said if North Korea was involved in the sinking, this would be a violation of the Armistice Agreement itself, so South Korea would not have broken existing agreements first.

Experts expressed criticism that resuming loudspeaker broadcasts would be an impromptu response, made with conservative domestic opinion calling for a hardline response in mind that would collapse the foothold of military confidence building that was assembled amid much difficulty. PeaceNetwork representative Cheong Wook-sik said that if South Korea restarts broadcasts, North Korea would respond. He said foundational measures for building military trust is not to slander one another, and if mutual slanderous broadcasts catch fire along the MDL, reducing military tensions and confidence building will disappear.

Moreover, in consideration of North Korea’s multiple warnings that if private South Korean groups did not stop sending leaflets condemning North Korea, it would have a negative effect on inter-Korean relations, there is concern that if South Korean military authorities restart loudspeaker broadcasts aimed at North Korea, inter-Korean tensions and confrontation could reach a point where from which they will be unable to recover.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
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* Related Korean article:

Hankyoreh

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Posted on : May.12,2010

Text Fwd: N. Korea sets 'firing zone' along western sea border

* Image source: Tongil News, Dec. 21, 2009
'The Maritime Demarcation Lines claimed [differently] by the South and North
[Source-Ministry of National Defense, ROK]'
(Translation added)

Yonhap News
N. Korea sets 'firing zone' along western sea border

SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Monday that it was setting a "peacetime firing zone" along the inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea, raising tension in the volatile region where a blaze of gunfire was recently exchanged.

Last week, North Korea accused the South Korean Navy of conducting underwater explosions close to its waters, calling it "provocation." South Korea's Joint Chief of Staffs dismissed the claim, saying the explosions were part of a routine drill conducted in South Korean waters.

"In order to counter the reckless military provocations of the warmongers of the South Korean military," a spokesman for the Navy Command of the North's Korean People's Army said, "our navy declares the waters on the extension of the Military Demarcation Line in the West Sea under the control of our army as a peacetime naval firing zone of coastal and island artillery units of the KPA (Korean People's Army)."

South Korea expressed regret over the North Korean warning, pledging a "stern response" should the communist state provoke on the maritime border.

"We express grave concern as the North's threat raises unnecessary tension between the Koreas," the South Korean Navy said in a statement, calling the North Korean argument "irrational."

The Military Demarcation Line refers to the line North Korea unilaterally drew just south of Northern Limit Line (NLL) in 1999 as the maritime inter-Korean border, declaring the NLL that has existed for decades unfair and void.

The NLL, part of which was drawn close to the North Korean coastline, was set by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Koreas exchanged brief gunfire in an area just south of the NLL in November, and naval skirmishes that erupted nearby in 1999 and 2002 led to casualties.

The latest warning raised military tension in the region that overlaps between the NLL and the line that North Korea claims should be the border.

"The frequent intrusions of the warmongers of the South Korean military into the territorial waters of the north side in the West Sea of Korea have recently developed into adventurous bombardments," the unidentified naval command spokesman said.

All fishing boats and warships should take security measures to protect themselves in the "peacetime naval firing zone," he said.

Also Monday, South Korea said it planned to resume cash support to enhance the health of North Korean infants and children, which it halted after the North's nuclear test earlier this year. Seoul's Unification Ministry said it will provide millions of dollars to U.N. agencies that operate health care programs for those who are nutritionally at risk in North Korea.

Last week, Seoul provided US$15 million in medication to the North to help prevent an epidemic of the H1N1 flu virus there.

hkim@yna.co.kr
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

* Related article:

Tongil News
North Korea, Announces the Water Are of the Western Sea Demarcation Line as the "peacetime firing zone": The NLL is overlapped with the South Zone Sea Area, Military Tension Is Heightened in the Western Sea
北, 서해분계선 수역 '평시 해상사격구역' 선포 NLL 이남 수역과 겹쳐 서해 군사적 긴장 높아져
Dec. 21, 2009(Monday)
Jeong Nyung-Jin 정명진 기자 (mjjung@tongilnews.com)