South Korea used giant speakers to blast K-pop and anti-propaganda messages in North Korea

NORTH and South Korea are often on the brink of war, but the South’s big weapon has nothing to do with its military.

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FOR a tense four days it seemed as if North Korea and South Korea would come to blows.

For weeks tensions between the neighbouring countries had been simmering after the South accused the North of planting landmines on its border which maimed two of its soldiers.

Pyongyang refused to take responsibility prompting Seoul to go on the offensive.

While it showed some of its military might, its main tactic - the one which appears to have angered the North the most - was to blast (among many things) K-pop across the border.

Using these loud speakers might seem strange to the rest of the world but South Korea knows its “closely related” neighbour well.

According to Dr Justin Hastings from the University of Sydney, if there is one thing the North Koreans hate, it’s information, in any form, from the outside world.

The International Relations and Comparative Politics lecturer told news.com.au North Korea was more afraid its citizens, and more importantly its soldiers, being tempted by not only the South but the West.

“It’s not the war games,” he said. “The one thing North Koreans really hate is, and this surprised me initially, is basically tactics that involve sending information about the outside world into North Korea.

“The loud speakers are good example of that. It’s not that they kill anyone, it’s that they are sending messages to North Korean soldiers in a way that really annoys the North Koreans. The balloons with messages over the border is another tactic the North Koreans really hate.

“And bibles coming in from China is also another thing. Those are the things the North Koreans really strongly dislike.”

Despite being one of the biggest girl bands in Asia, Korean pop group 2NE1 doesn’t seem to have any fans in North Korea. In fact their peachy pop tunes are considered evil propoganda by the North Korean government. Pic: Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images.

For two weeks South Korea broadcast its Voice of Freedom radio across the border. The FM station features a mix of casual conversation, anti-DPRK content, discussion from defectors, reports about human rights abuses in the North and Korean pop music, or K-pop.

It had demanded that Pyongyang apologise for the landmine blast that injured its two soldiers and used the loud speaker to make a point.

North Korea refused, then retaliated by reportedly deploying dozens of submarines and doubling artillery units at the border.

The South Korean military then upped the ante and was joined by the US which sent fighter jets to fly over the region.

Over the weekend, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered his troops to prepare for war prompting the UN to appeal to both sides to come to some sort of diplomatic solution.

Following 40 hours of talks the two sides reached a compromise on Tuesday.

South Korea switched off the loudspeakers blasting propaganda messages, and North Korea “expressed regret” for the mine blasts.

Dr Hastings said while the tensions between to the two countries did reach crisis point he believes that unless there was a major “miscalculation” by either side, it was highly unlikely it would have ever reached all out war.

“I don’t think it would ever purposely get that far (real war),” he told news.com.au. “The North Koreans have purposely perfected that playbook of creating a crisis then escalating right up to the point. They would never purposely let it go to all out war but there is a chance of a miscalculation (on their part) such as a submarine going too far.

“They are not playing with fire but they’re opening the way for miscalculation whenever they ramp up hostilities.

“North Korea does in fact create crises for its own reasons...mostly to test South Korea.

“They (generally) create a some kind of contention then they will ramp it up to the point of war to see how South Koreans will react, to see if they will back down and whether they can get some sort of concession out of them. They also appear to do it as a way to keep their name on the map when it comes to other countries paying attention to them.”

He added: “I think in some ways what this basically says is that these two countries really are two brothers fighting each other.

“The South Koreans know how the North Koreans think in a way many other countries don’t. That is why they are able to do the things that really annoy the North Koreans. And vice versa.

“This is a feud between two very closely related countries and because of that the conflict comes from understanding each other too well rather than misunderstanding each other.”