South Korea halts broadcasts to North Korea as peace efforts advance

South Korea’s intelligence agency has reportedly stopped all radio and television broadcasts aimed at North Korea this month, according to multiple private broadcasters, marking a significant shift in Seoul’s approach toward Pyongyang under President Lee Jae-myung.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) has long operated cross-border broadcasts as part of its psychological operations strategy; however, reports on July 21 stated that those channels have now gone silent. The NIS declined to confirm or comment on the matter.

Since taking office, the Lee administration has pursued a series of conciliatory gestures toward the North. On June 9, the government publicly requested that civic groups halt their leaflet campaigns, and military broadcasts along the demilitarized zone were suspended two days later. That same week, six North Koreans who drifted across the Northern Limit Line were repatriated after separate incidents in the East and West Seas.

“These steps reflect the administration’s commitment to restoring trust and advancing peace on the Korean Peninsula, as President Lee pledged during the campaign,” Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu‑jung said at the time.

But not everyone is convinced.

Experts warn that halting the broadcasts gives up a key tool of modern psychological warfare while South and North Korean forces remain locked in a tense military standoff along the demilitarized zone.

A research fellow at a state-run think tank, who asked not to be named, called the decision “unusual” and warned that “opening the door to dialogue is understandable, but in our ideologically divided domestic landscape, such actions risk unnecessary misunderstandings.”

Another expert noted that while the government has taken the first step with a series of goodwill gestures toward North Korea, Pyongyang has yet to respond in kind.

“The government is likely to continue introducing measures aimed at prompting a more conciliatory stance from North Korea,” the expert said. “But Kim Jong-un is not someone who will necessarily view such gestures favorably, so there’s no guarantee of a positive response.”

At a year-end Workers’ Party meeting in 2023, Kim rejected the idea of reunification with the South, declaring, “There can never be reunification with South Korea, which has adopted policies like ‘absorption reunification’ and ‘system unification’ — completely at odds with our vision of one people, one nation and two systems.”

“The puppet regime’s vicious ambition to destroy our system and government remains the same, whether it hides behind the banner of ‘democracy’ or wears the mask of ‘conservatism,’” he said, signaling a shift in the North’s position toward the South.

In response, the South Korean government announced plans to expand public access to non-propaganda North Korean materials, including films, literature and science texts.

The Ministry of Unification defines North Korean documents as either general or special. The current system places special materials under NIS control, with each holding institution deciding on public release — though most remain classified due to unclear criteria.

To improve transparency, the ministry intends to gain parliamentary approval to transfer authority over classification of special materials from the NIS to the Unification Ministry.

Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yong‑sun plans to introduce a bill to establish a North Korean Materials Review Committee in the Unification Ministry and define clearer disclosure standards.

BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]