Screechy broadcasts from North Korea disrupt life near the border

North Korea has recently been broadcasting high-pitched noises around the clock, perturbing South Koreans residing in regions near the border.

A loudspeaker on the North Korean side of the demilitarized zone as photographed from Dangsan-ri in Gangwha County, Incheon, in June [YONHAP]

Residents of the border region have complained of high-pitched noises emanating from loudspeakers on the North Korean side, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday.

The noise, which people living along the border have likened to the sound of scraping or grinding metal, was first heard at the end of July in Ganghwa County, Incheon, which lies on the southern side of the Imjin River across from North Korea.

Locals have said that the noise from the North's loudspeakers can be heard around the clock, with intervals of 3 to 5 hours of relentless screeching followed by brief pauses lasting for 10 to 20 minutes.

Residents have reported that the volume of the broadcasts has mounted in the past week and called on the government to take immediate action.

In Dangsan-ri, a rural area in Ganghwa County, some 150 households are unable to open their windows due to the constant screeching noises.

Lee Man-ho, a 63-year-old man living in Dangsan-ri, told the local newspaper Kyungin Ilbo that residents are “tormented daily by these bizarre noises,” which he described having “reached an intolerable threshold.”

Families with young children have told local media that their babies are startled by the broadcasts and cry incessantly, making day-to-day life unbearable.

South Korean military officials told reporters that they are investigating the possibility that the noise pollution from the North is a form of retaliation against loudspeaker broadcasts from the South, which resumed in July.

However, they also did not rule out the possibility that the North may also be using the screeching sounds to prevent its own people from hearing South Korean broadcasts.

According to local media reports, a North Korean soldier who defected by walking across the heavily militarized border into Goseong County, Gangwon, told officials he decided to do so after hearing broadcasts from the South.

Seoul restarted loudspeaker broadcasts along the border after the North began launching thousands of trash-laden balloons into the South in May, which Pyongyang said was in retaliation for anti-regime propaganda sent into the North by human rights activists and defector groups.

The North has conducted 18 balloon launches into the South since May 28.

According to the JCS, the regime most recently attempted to launch trash-carrying balloons across the military demarcation line on Wednesday, but they all wound up drifting north of the border.

Each balloon carries a plastic bag filled with waste connected to a wire attached to a detonator. After a set period, the detonator generates heat, burning the plastic and dispersing their payloads midair.

However, if the detonator malfunctions or the balloon deflates prematurely, the detonator can go off while in contact with its payload on the ground, potentially starting fires.

The military believes that malfunctioning detonators carried by the balloons are to blame for several recent fires, including a factory blaze near Gimpo Airport on Sept. 5 that resulted in over 100 million won ($74,000) in property damage.

Another trash-laden balloon started a fire on the roof of a warehouse in Paju, Gyeonggi, on Sunday, causing 87.3 million won in damage.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]