South Korea will remove propaganda-broadcasting loudspeakers from the border with North Korea this week, officials said Monday, as the rivals move to follow through with their leaders鈥� summit declaration that produced reconciliation steps without a breakthrough in the nuclear standoff.
During their historic meeting Friday at a Korean border village, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to end hostile acts against each other along their tense border, establish a liaison office and resume reunions of separated families. They also agreed to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, but failed to produce specific time frames and disarmament steps.
Seoul鈥檚 Defence Ministry said it would pull back dozens of its front-line loudspeakers on Tuesday before media cameras. Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyunsoo Seoul expects Pyongyang to do the same.
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South Korea had already turned off its loudspeakers ahead of Friday鈥檚 summit talks, and North Korea responded by halting its own broadcasts.
The two Koreas had been engaged in Cold War-era psychological warfare since the North鈥檚 fourth nuclear test in early 2016. Seoul began blaring anti-Pyongyang broadcasts and K-Pop songs via border loudspeakers, and Pyongyang quickly matched the South鈥檚 action with its own border broadcasts and launches of balloons carrying anti-South leaflets.
Seoul鈥檚 announcement came a day after it said Kim told Moon during the summit that he would shut down his country鈥檚 only known nuclear testing site and allow outside experts and journalists to watch the process.
South Korean officials also cited Kim as saying he would be willing to give up his nuclear programs if the United States commits to a formal end to the Korean War and a pledge not to attack the North. Kim had already suspended his nuclear and missile tests while offering to put his nukes up for negotiations.
The closing of the Punggy-ri test site, where all six of North Korea鈥檚 atomic bomb tests occurred, could be an eye-catching disarmament step by Pyongyang. But there is still deep skepticism over whether Kim is truly willing to negotiate away the nukes that his country has built after decades of struggle and sacrifice.
According to a summit accord, Kim and Moon agreed to achieve 鈥渁 nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization,鈥� rather than clearly stating 鈥渁 nuclear-free North Korea.鈥� Pyongyang has long said the term 鈥渄enuclearization of the Korean Peninsula鈥� must include the United States pulling its 28,500 troops out of South Korea and removing its so-called 鈥渘uclear umbrella鈥� security commitment to South Korea and Japan.
Kim could offer more disarmament concessions during his meeting with President Donald Trump, expected in May or June, but it鈥檚 unclear what specific steps he would take. Some experts say Kim may announce scraping North Korea鈥檚 long-range missile program, which has posed a direct threat to the United States.
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton reacted coolly to word that Kim would abandon his weapons if the United States pledged not to invade.
Asked on CBS鈥檚 鈥淔ace the Nation鈥� whether the U.S. would make such a promise, Bolton said: 鈥淲ell, we鈥檝e heard this before. This is 鈥� the North Korean propaganda playbook is an infinitely rich resource. What we want to see from them is evidence that it鈥檚 real and not just rhetoric.鈥�
Kim鈥檚 meeting with Moon was his second summit with a foreign leader since he took office in late 2011. In March, he travelled to Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. While meeting with Xi, Kim suggested he prefers a step-by-step disarmament process in line with corresponding outside rewards, according to Chinese state media. U.S. officials want the North to take complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament measures.
China said Monday that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Pyongyang on Wednesday and Thursday.
China is the North鈥檚 only major economic partner, but trade has declined by about 90 per cent following Beijing鈥檚 implementation of economic sanctions imposed over the North鈥檚 nuclear and missile tests. Some analysts say Kim鈥檚 recent charm offensive was aimed at weakening the sanctions.
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Hyung-Jin Kim, The Associated Press
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