Kim Yo-jong says North Korean border loudspeakers will be on standby within days
The new statement sets a nearer readiness timetable after Kim said a day earlier that broadcasts toward South Korea would resume within October.
Kim Yo-jong said on October 22 that North Korea’s propaganda loudspeakers along its border with South Korea would be on standby within days, according to Yonhap News Agency. The warning brings forward the stated readiness timetable after she said a day earlier that broadcasts would resume within October. It does not establish that the loudspeakers are operating.
In a statement carried by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency, Kim said ‘new counter means’ would go on alert along the southern border and the loudspeakers would be on standby ‘in a matter of days.’ She did not give a date for broadcasts to begin in that statement, Yonhap reported.
How the border loudspeaker timetable changed
On October 21, Kim said the loudspeakers would be in operation along the whole border within October, Yonhap reported. Her subsequent statement specifies when they would be ready for duty, rather than announcing that transmissions have started. NewsJaws previously reported her earlier pledge to [restart border loudspeakers by the end of October].
Kim’s latest warning followed a visit to positions along the southern border and a North Korean threat of military action over what Pyongyang called provocations by South Korean troops near its fortification work, Yonhap reported. Kim said the project would continue and claimed that stronger fortifications would reduce the danger of conflict between the two countries.
Why work along the military border matters
North Korea began reinforcing the border in April 2024, adding barbed-wire fences, mines and anti-tank barriers along the Military Demarcation Line, according to Yonhap. The work followed Kim Jong-un’s declaration the previous year that the two Koreas were ‘two states hostile to each other.’ The rival governments have disputed whether North Korean troops crossed the border during the work.
Tensions also rose after land mine explosions in the Demilitarized Zone injured three South Korean soldiers last month. South Korea attributed the explosions to North Korean mines; Pyongyang denied involvement. Those competing accounts remain relevant to the risk of a confrontation as fortification work continues.
South Korea’s Ministry of Unification has said its government policy includes stopping loudspeaker broadcasts and leaflet distribution. Kim’s announcement concerns North Korea’s planned broadcasts toward the South, amid that wider dispute over activities at the border.
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Sources and context
- (LEAD) N.K. leader's sister warns of border countermeasures, loudspeakers to be ready within daysYonhap News Agency
- (2nd LD) N. Korea to resume propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts toward S. Korea: N.K. leader's sisterYonhap News Agency
- Regular Briefing by Spokesperson Yoon Min HoRepublic of Korea Ministry of Unification
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.