South Korea began dismantling its loudspeakers near the border used for anti-Pyongyang propaganda in a “practical step” to ease tensions with North Korea, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Monday. “The removal is a follow-up measure to the suspension of loudspeaker broadcasts in June,

South Korean authorities began removing on Monday loudspeakers blaring anti-North Korea broadcasts along the country's border, Seoul's defence ministry said, as the new government of President Lee Jae Myung seeks to ease tensions with Pyongyang.

The speakers had previously been used to blast anti-North Korean propaganda across the border, but the South’s new liberal government halted the broadcasts in June in a conciliatory gesture as it looks to rebuild trust and revive dialogue with Pyongyang, which has largely cut off cooperation with the South in recent years.