Residents suffer from the "ghost sound every night" North Korean ghost sound broadcast..."Because of the flyers to North Korea?"

North Korea's South Korean broadcast speakers are surrounded by green walls. / Yonhap News

Residents of Daeseong-dong Village in Paju City's Civilian Control Line, the northernmost border, complained of damage caused by broadcasting to the South.

It is said that animal cries and ghosts have been heard on the South Korean broadcast for more than 20 days, harassing residents.

Paju City opened a mobile mayor's office at a civil defense shelter in Imjingak on the 18th and prepared a place to listen to damage from residents of the border area and seek countermeasures.

About 30 residents of the Demilitarized Zone-based villages of Daeseong-dong, Tongilchon, and Haemaru-chon visited the mayor's office and complained of the pain caused by North Korea's recent noise broadcasting.

The level of tension in the Paju border area has risen sharply in recent years. This is due to the North's spraying of filth balloons, North Korean defector groups' spraying of leaflets to the North, and the loudspeaker broadcasting battle between the two Koreas.

According to residents, North Korea has been broadcasting loudspeaker messages against the South for more than 20 days since September 28. In particular, residents complained that the noise intensity was the highest among the South Korean broadcasts they had ever heard. Most of the residents are suffering from insomnia, as creepy sounds can be heard day and night, from the cries of animals such as foxes, wild dogs, and crows, to the sound of scratching iron balls and the sound of machines running.

A resident complained, "The previous South Korean broadcast was human speech, but this time it is torture with bizarre noise," adding, "I'm about to get mentally ill." He pointed out, "We need to install soundproof walls or provide temporary accommodation for sleeping."

Gyeonggi Province and Paju City believe that North Korea's loudspeaker broadcasts are due to private organizations' "spreading leaflets to North Korea." Paju Mayor Kim Kyung-il said, "Citizens' anxiety and pain are growing and their lives and safety are threatened," adding, "We will actively seek to detect and crack down on leaflets against North Korea by making the most of the local government's authority granted by setting up a dangerous zone."

On the 16th, Gyeonggi Province set three cities and counties, Paju, Yeoncheon, and Gimpo, as dangerous zones related to the spraying of leaflets to North Korea, saying, "We cannot rule out the possibility of North Korea's shelling when spraying leaflets to North Korea." They ordered those who send leaflets to North Korea to be prohibited from entering and even allowed criminal punishment in case of non-compliance. The establishment of a dangerous zone in Gyeonggi-do Province is the second after June 2020, when Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, was serving as governor of Gyeonggi-do Province.

Reporter Park Sun-young of Digital News Team