South Korea to resume 24/7 loudspeaker broadcasts aimed at North Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's military said on Friday it had decided to resume its round-the-clock loudspeaker broadcast campaign targeting North Korea in response to what it called the "despicable, shameful and vulgar" launch of balloons by Pyongyang carrying trash across the border.

The loudspeaker broadcasts and the balloons, which have been launched also by South Korean activists over the years sending anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets, have been new sources of tension between the two Koreas.

Since May, North Korea has been floating thousands of balloons with bags of trash attached to them, carried by wind to the South and dropping in civilian neighbourhoods, causing some property damage.

Seoul's military said it had decided to restart round-the-clock broadcasts after the North flew such balloons again on Thursday, when both Koreas were scrambling to contain damage from monsoon rains.

"These actions clearly violates the armistice agreement and are shameful and vulgar behaviour that could pose risks to the daily lives of our people," the military said in a statement.

"We strongly urge them to immediately stop the despicable, shameful and vulgar act," it added, vowing to take even stronger measures if the North continues sending trash balloons.

South Korea last month resumed the broadcasts using large loudspeakers set up at the border for the first time in six years after repeated warnings for the North to stop sending trash, but the broadcasts only lasted for some hours.

Blaring propaganda, world news and K-pop music, the broadcasts, considered by military officials and activists as an effective form of psychological warfare, were stopped under a peace agreement signed in 2018, which both sides have declared as void as tensions rose.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Stephen Coates and Raju Gopalakrishnan)