The South Korean military has confirmed that North Korea does appear to have stopped broadcasts and leaflet drops targeted at the South. The move comes amidst a media campaign by the North alleging a wish to improve inter-Korean ties, most notably via a National Defense Commission statement on January 16th that called for a halt to bilateral acts of slander as of January 31st.
“North Korea’s threatening and slanderous broadcasts targeting South Korea have been continuously decreasing of late,” a spokesperson for the South Korean Ministry of National Defenses acknowledged earlier today. However, “Nothing else tangible” has been noted, he said, and the North’s annual winter military drills continue.
North Korea started dispatching leaflets over the maritime border between the two Koreas in December 2013, the first time it had done so since halting a similar program in September 2012. North Korea’s leaflets are a similar but less well known variant on the type of anti-regime leaflets sent north across the DMZ by South Korean civil society groups. The North Korean leaflets are state-sponsored.
The South Korean authorities have warned against reading too much into the slowdown, attributing the quiet atmosphere to military base activities over the Lunar New Year period.
Meanwhile, the South is expected to announce the date for the joint U.S.-ROK “Key Resolve” military exercises within a week. The training, which is vehemently opposed by the North this year, though not every year, normally begins at the end of February.
