South Korea vows to restart border propaganda against North

South Korea said Monday it had ordered the resumption of border propaganda operations against North Korea for the first time in 11 years, in response to an alleged landmine attack.

"Our military has decided to resume propaganda broadcasting using loudspeakers along the border," a defence ministry spokesman said.

The move came hours after the South publicly blamed the North for three landmine blasts that maimed two soldiers on border patrol last week.

For years, banks of speakers positioned at more than a dozen points along the border with the North had blared out propaganda messages about the joys of life in South Korea.

The practise was discontinued by mutual agreement in 2004 during a period of rapprochement between the two Koreas that had been initiated by late South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung.

South Korea had threatened to resume the practice in 2010 after the sinking of  a naval corvette that was blamed on a North Korean submarine.

But although the loudspeakers were re-installed, they were never put back into use as Seoul limited itself to a number of direct FM radio broadcasts instead.

"This will be a partial resumption, and loudspeakers will be turned on to denounce North Korea's provocative use of landmines," the ministry spokesman told AFP.