North Korea and South Korea—engaged in a low-level military conflict with each other since the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953—are separated at their border by the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), along which both countries have played propaganda, music, or various other noises on loudspeakers as a form of psychological warfare. There have been three periods in which the broadcasts have occurred, each time initiated by South Korea. The purpose of the speakers has been to encourage North Koreans to gain a liking for South Korea, as well as to respond military to North Korean aggression without physically escalating the conflict.
The United States, allied with South Korea during the Korean War, used loudspeaker broadcasts as psychological warfare on North Korean soldiers from 1950 to 1953. In 1963, South Korea began using speakers along the DMZ, and North Korea began their own broadcasts later. The two countries agreed to stop the broadcasts during negotiations in 2004. In 2015, after an incident in which two South Korean soldiers on the DMZ were injured by a North Korean landmine, the two countries resumed broadcasting. They were paused again after a 2018 agreement over "hostile tactics" along the DMZ. In 2024, after North Korea sent balloons filled with trash and manure over the DMZ, the broadcasts again resumed.