To ease tension, 2 Koreas call truce in war of words

By Hans Greimel
The Associated Press

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DORASAN OBSERVATION POST, South Korea — The bellowing cacophony of anthems here along the tense border with North Korea may soon turn into swan songs after a rare agreement to phase out such broadcasts and propaganda signboards.

The war of words along the heavily fortified no man's land separating North and South Korea dates to the 1950-53 Korean War that devastated the peninsula and left tens of thousands of troops arrayed along the frontier.

The South uses towering electronic billboards, reminiscent of the "Hollywood" sign overlooking Los Angeles, to beam weather reports, world news and salutations to its communist neighbor. The North rejoins with signboards of its own to relay such messages as "Let's Establish a Confederate Nation!"

From strategically placed loudspeakers, both Koreas blare music that reverberates across the 2½ -mile-wide Demilitarized Zone, a Cold War vestige strewn with minefields, barbed wire and tank traps.

Yet in a small sign of rapprochement between the former battlefield foes, the two Koreas agreed yesterday to try to ease tensions by, among other things, ending such propaganda efforts.

That effort is to begin June 15, the fourth anniversary of a historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and the South's then-President Kim Dae-jung. A month later, there will ideally be no more booming music or signboards, according to a joint statement.

Both Koreas agreed in the 2000 summit to work on eliminating border-area propaganda. But in practice, what changed most was simply the tenor of the message.

North Korean signs that once read "Yankee Go Home!" have been replaced with more nuanced messages such as "Reunification." For the South's part, a placard planted near Dorasan reads: "Freedom, Abundance, Happiness."

Impoverished North Korea, which pushed for eliminating propaganda at the military talks, may have done so because it realizes it faces a losing battle and needs to devote its limited resources to other endeavors, said Paik Haksoon, a North Korean expert with the Sejong Institute outside Seoul.
 
"The propaganda was not effective at all," Paik said. "They want to stabilize the military front in the south so they can focus on economic revitalization."

The accord also introduced measures to prevent naval clashes in coastal waters, partly by establishing a telephone hotline and adopting a standard radio frequency and signaling system to improve communication.

South Korean officials praised the accord as buttressing peace and stability on the divided peninsula amid an international standoff over North Korea's nuclear-weapons program.

But in a sign of how much mistrust remains, negotiators avoided talk of the North's missile arsenal, or possible troop pullbacks. The two Koreas have yet to sign a peace treaty formally ending their war.