North Korea says border loudspeakers will be on standby within days

Kim Yo-jong said on Thursday that North Korea’s loudspeakers facing South Korea would be put on standby within days. Her latest statement, reported by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency from North Korean state media, follows her announcement on Wednesday that propaganda broadcasts would resume along the entire border before the end of October. Standby is not the same as broadcasting; Thursday’s statement neither confirms that transmissions have begun nor withdraws the earlier timetable.

The loudspeakers have been used by both countries during periods of tension. South Korea stopped its broadcasts in 2025 after President Lee Jae Myung took office, and North Korea later stopped its own, according to the Associated Press.

The warning comes amid a dispute over North Korea’s work to fortify the border. Seoul says it has fired warning shots after Northern soldiers crossed the military demarcation line; Pyongyang disputes the crossing claims. Three South Korean soldiers were injured in mine explosions on 21 September. South Korea blames mines it says North Korea planted, while Pyongyang denies responsibility.

Kim also said on Wednesday that what she called “tactical hunting teams” were taking new positions. In a separate account of a border inspection, North Korean state media quoted her as saying new firepower units had taken firing positions. Those are North Korean claims about deployments, not established troop movements. South Korea’s defence ministry said on Thursday that it would need to take “proportionate measures” in response to the North’s moves along the border, without specifying what those might be.