North Korea moving to install propaganda loudspeakers, reports say

June 22 (UPI) -- North Korea has begun to install propaganda loudspeakers in some areas of the Korean demilitarized zone, as tensions rise over the distribution of political leaflets.

Sources in the South Korean military said the North Koreans began to reinstall the loudspeakers on Sunday and that Seoul is watching the movements closely, Yonhap and News 1 reported Monday.

South Korea dismantled loudspeakers after Kim Jong Un and President Moon Jae-in agreed to end the policy as part of the April 2018 Panmunjom Declaration. As recently as 2017, the South was airing K-pop and news across the border, a move that drew a stern warning from Pyongyang.

On Monday, sources in South Korea's defense ministry said the military has made "all kinds of preparations" to "respond immediately to various scenarios." It is unclear whether the South is to respond with the resumption of its own loudspeakers.

According to Yonhap, North Korea began to dismantle its loudspeakers at more than 40 locations on May 1, 2018. The South responded in kind, dismantling its mobile loudspeakers as tensions eased on the peninsula.

The two Koreas also agreed in 2018 to cease the distribution of political leaflets, but defectors in the South have condemned the rules. Defectors have said they plan to continue their activities despite warnings from Pyongyang and Seoul.

North Korea's reported moves to reinstall loudspeakers come after the regime publicly disclosed its intention to send its own leaflets across the border.

In the South, the loudspeaker broadcasts to North Korea began in 1963. The speakers have been dismantled and reinstalled across administrations.

Under former President Park Geun-hye, Seoul resumed loudspeaker broadcasts following a landmine incident inside the DMZ in 2015 that maimed two South Korean soldiers.