Live in terror of screaming ghosts - 'drive us crazy'

North Korea
Live in fear of screaming ghosts - "Driving us crazy"

John Edgar

Published 2024-11-16 23.55
 

Quick version

• Residents of South Korean villages on the border with North Korea are suffering from loud agonizing sounds played from loudspeakers as part of the increased hostility between the countries.
• North Korea's new audio tactic is seen as a reaction to leaflets sent across the border by South Korean defectors, in which Kim Jong-Un was called insulting things.
• The political situation between North Korea and South Korea has become increasingly tense, partly due to South Korea's increased cooperation with the US and Japan, as well as Kim Jong-Un's closer relationship with Vladimir Putin.

Wolves howl, ghosts scream and artillery fire explodes in the darkness.

The terror continues night after night.

- The worst thing is that we don't know when it will end, if it will ever end, says An Mi-hee, 37, who is a victim of Kim's new terror.

          

         Here is North Korea's audio terror against South Korea

The people cannot sleep and suffer from migraines. The goats miscarry, the hens lay fewer eggs and a dog died from a crash and fall.

Life has been hell in the South Korean villages along the border with North Korea since last summer.

- It drives us crazy. We can't sleep at night, says An Mi-hee to The New York Times.

View towards North Korea from China. Photo: Ng Han Guan/AP

"Bizarre and unbearable"

The newspaper, which visited the border village of Dangsan, calls the sonic terror "one of the most bizarre - and unbearable - consequences for the increasingly deteriorating relations between North and South Korea in recent years".

For many years, North Korea used large loudspeakers on its side of the border to play propaganda speeches and patriotic music. For a long time they were silent.

But when South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol came to power in 2022, he chose to take a more confrontational approach to the reclusive neighbor to the north.

South Korea has, among other things, increased the number of military exercises with the United States and Japan.

At the same time, Kim Jong-Un has also increased his hostile rhetoric against South Korea. His increasingly close relationship with Putin has further increased tensions.

Kim Jong-Un and Vladimoir Putin during the Russian president's visit to Pyongyang this summer. Photo: KCNA/AP

Was called a pig in flyers

With what is seen as the major turning point – which led to the sonic boom, among other things – was a wave of leaflets dropped over North Korea from balloons. It was organized by defectors who now live in the South, writes The New York Times.

In the flyers, Kim was called, among other things, "a murderous dictator" and "pig".

Since July, they have now been playing loud, scary sounds from the speakers.

Different every time.

Among the noises are ones that sound like "a giant gong struck over and over", "wolves howling", "scraping metal", "ghosts screaming like in a horror movie", "incoming artillery fire" and "a furious monkey banging on a broken piano," writes The New York Times.

The terror lasts between 10 and 24 hours a day.

Balloons with leaflets on their way to North Korea Photo: Ahn Young-Joon / Ap

The animals receive medicine

- I wish they could only play their old insults and propaganda songs, says villager An Seon-hoe, 67, to the newspaper.

- At least they were human sounds and we could put up with them.

The villagers are critical of the authorities who have not helped with more than reinforcing the windows and prescribing medicines for the animals to reduce their stress.

And no one knows when Kim is going to turn off the speakers.

- North Korea knows that their propaganda does not work on South Koreans, says North Korea expert Kang Dong-wan to The New York Times.

Speakers at the border between North and South Korea Photo: Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters

"Bigger players"

- The goal of the loudspeakers has changed from spreading propaganda to forcing South Korea to stop its own broadcasts and leaflets.

The Washington Post has also drawn attention to changes in the closed North Korea and in Kim Jong-Un in a report over the weekend.

It is stated that he appears more arrogant than ever - due to the close cooperation with Russia.

- The country probably sees itself as a bigger player than before, says Rachel Minyoung Lee, an expert on state North Korean media, to the Washington Post.

While moving closer to Putin, North Korea has also formally abandoned the idea of ​​reunification with South Korea.

The border between the countries. Photo: Ahn Young-Joon / AP

Blowing up roads

Kim has removed and blown up symbolic references to a return, such as monuments and roads.

The Reunification Station in the Pyongyang subway has also been renamed.

However, Kim is believed to be under no illusions about Putin's reasons for approaching North Korea, according to experts. His goal is to win in Ukraine by any means possible.

- Kim has read the history books. His father probably coached him: "don't trust anyone, everyone just looks out for their own house," former intelligence officer Sydney Seiler with North Korea as an area of ​​expertise told the Washington Post.

- But at the moment it seems that he thinks that most things are going his way.