Residents of South Korea’s border town of Paju, located near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), are enduring significant distress due to North Korea’s loud broadcasts and other provocative actions, according to a report by JoongAng Ilbo.
The situation has worsened with recent developments such as North Korean defectors launching leaflets across the border, North Korea’s balloon launches, and the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts by the South Korean military. Residents say that North Korea’s broadcasts are the loudest, causing them to suffer from insomnia and deteriorating mental health.
The constant sounds of animals like wild dogs, foxes, and crows, along with mechanical noises, are incessantly disturbing the residents’ daily lives. “The noise is unbearable,” said one resident. “People should spend at least a night here to understand how painful and distressing it is.”
Another resident who has lived in the DMZ for over 50 years said this year has been the hardest. “Even with sleeping pills and sedatives, nothing helps, and using earplugs caused my ears to become infected,” they cried. Many have called for an urgent halt to the leaflet drops initiated by defector groups, which are seen as provoking North Korea’s responses.
The noise is so overwhelming that they struggle to converse with those beside them. On Friday, Paju City opened an “Emergency Mobile Office” at a civil defense shelter to assess the damage caused by this situation. Paju Mayor Kim Kyung Il met with over 30 residents from three villages in the demilitarized zone, who expressed their suffering.
Residents claimed that the North Korean loudspeaker broadcasts, blaring for over 20 days, have made daily life impossible. Lee Wan Bae, the village head of Unification Village, questioned, “They talk about freedom of expression for defectors, but what about the human rights of residents in the civilian control line?” He added, “North Korea threatens to strike the source of any leaflets that come over; are they hoping for war?”
Mayor Kim stated that the city is taking their plight seriously, adding, “We are in a grave situation where the safety and lives of our citizens are at risk. We will actively work to detect and crack down on further leaflet drops.”
Meanwhile, new evidence has come to light that Russia prepared a Korean-language questionnaire to facilitate the supply of goods for North Korean soldiers deployed there. On Saturday, CNN reported that Russia prepared a Korean-language questionnaire to the North Korean soldiers stationed there. The questionnaire was obtained through the Strategic Communication and Information Security Center (SPRAVDI) under Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and requires respondents to provide measurements such as hat size, uniform measurements, and shoe size.
The questionnaire highlights the challenges posed by differences in clothing size systems between the two countries. It has specific sections for Russian military uniform sizes alongside space for North Korean soldiers to put in their own measurements. For example, it lists numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 with corresponding height ranges like 162-168 cm and 168-174 cm.
Reports indicate that soldiers must complete and submit this questionnaire immediately upon arriving in Russia. This document provides critical evidence of North Korean military personnel’s deployment to Russia, where it appears the soldiers do not understand Russian, necessitating these Korean-language forms.
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