# Pyongyang Threatens to Restart Border Loudspeakers, and Seoul Won't Say What It Will Do Back > Kim Yo-jong says North Korea will resume propaganda broadcasts across the border this month, and South Korea's defense ministry is promising a proportionate response while declining to say what that response would actually involve. - Source: Korea First - Canonical URL: https://koreafirst.tv/article/pyongyang-threatens-to-restart-border-loudspeakers-and-seoul-won-t-say-what-it-will-do-back - Author: Korea First Staff - Section: Politics - Published: 2026-10-22T10:18:36.718Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T10:18:36.718Z - Tags: North Korea, Kim Yo-jong, loudspeaker broadcasts, inter-Korean relations, defense ministry - Korean edition: https://koreafirst.tv/ko/article/pyongyang-threatens-to-restart-border-loudspeakers-and-seoul-won-t-say-what-it-will-do-back --- North Korea has put South Korea on notice that it intends to switch its border loudspeakers back on, and Seoul's answer so far has been to promise a response without saying what that response would be. ## The warning, and who delivered it Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader's sister, issued the warning over two consecutive days this week, saying Pyongyang will resume propaganda broadcasts aimed at the South later this month. She framed the move as a reaction to accusations Seoul has leveled at North Korean troops, tying the threat directly to an unresolved dispute between the two militaries rather than presenting it as an isolated provocation. She was accompanied on a border inspection by Pak Jong-chon, vice chairman of the North's Central Military Commission, underscoring that the threat carries the weight of the North's military leadership rather than being a single official's statement. ## Seoul's answer: a response, details withheld On the South Korean side, defense ministry spokesperson Chung Binna said the government would take what she described as a proportionate measure if the broadcasts actually resume, while declining to specify what form that measure would take. Her phrasing, that nothing has been decided yet, leaves Seoul room to calibrate its response to whatever North Korea actually does rather than committing in advance to a specific countermeasure. ## Why loudspeakers carry more risk than they sound like they should The caution makes sense given how this has played out before. South Korea dismantled its own border loudspeakers in 2025 under the Lee Jae-myung administration, a goodwill gesture meant to lower tension along the frontier. The last time Seoul restarted broadcasts, in 2015 after an eleven-year pause, North Korea responded by firing artillery across the border, drawing return fire from South Korean forces. The broadcasts themselves carry outside news, criticism of North Korean leadership and K-pop, content aimed squarely at frontline soldiers and residents on the northern side, which is precisely why Pyongyang treats them as provocative enough to threaten retaliation over. ## A parallel track at the UN Alongside the loudspeaker dispute, Seoul is pursuing a separate diplomatic channel, with foreign ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon confirming plans to send a letter to the UN Security Council over a September mine explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers. That letter is expected to demand an apology from the North while also calling for a restoration of dialogue between the two sides, an attempt to pair a hard complaint with an opening for talks even as the loudspeaker standoff plays out on its own track. --- Originally published by Korea First. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://koreafirst.tv/article/pyongyang-threatens-to-restart-border-loudspeakers-and-seoul-won-t-say-what-it-will-do-back.