韩军方明日起拆除边境地区对朝扩音广播设备ROK to start removing anti-DPRK loudspeakers

The Republic of Korea (ROK) Defense Ministry said Monday that it will start removing high-decibel loudspeakers against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Tuesday, Yonhap News Agency reported.

It is part of the efforts to implement the agreement reached between Pyongyang and Seoul during their leaders' meeting last Friday. According to the agreement, the DPRK and ROK will "completely cease all hostile acts against each other in every domain."

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and ROK President Moon Jae-in agreed to eliminate hostile acts such as "broadcasting through loudspeakers and distribution of leaflets" along the border as of May 1 and turn the DMZ into a "peace zone."

The ROK had already halted the propaganda broadcasts a few days before the summit.

Seoul began those broadcasts at the border in 1963, with the DPRK blaring its own propaganda messages. The two sides stopped the broadcasts in 2015, but Seoul resumed the loudspeaker campaign in 2016 in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un (L) and ROK President Moon Jae-in meet in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two sides, April 27, 2018.

After their talks, Kim and Moon declared "there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula," vowing to move towards a peace treaty officially ending the Korean War by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the DPRK has decided to move its clocks 30 minutes forward to return to the same time zone as the ROK, starting this Saturday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The two sides have had different time zones since 2015.