Loudspeakers at a North Korean guard post in the Demilitarized Zone is seen in the left photo taken in September 2017, while it is removed in the right photo taken May 4, 2018, after the two Koreas agreed in the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration that year to remove their respective speakers. The North began to reinstall the speakers, Monday, as inter-Korean tension has risen recently. Yonhap

By Kim Rahn

North Korea is reinstalling "propaganda loudspeakers" on the inter-Korean border, after having removed them in 2018 following an agreement reached at an inter-Korean summit, the military said Monday.

The move followed Pyongyang's earlier threat to resume "activities against the enemy" ostensibly in protest of propaganda leaflets that have been sent across the border by North Korean defectors and civic activists in the South.

The military detected signs, Sunday afternoon, that the North was working on the reinstallation at multiple places inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

South and North Korea used to promote their respective ideologies and criticize each other through the loudspeakers, but they removed them following the Panmunjeom Declaration announced after the first summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on April 27, 2018.

The declaration read: "… the two sides agreed to transform the demilitarized zone into a peace zone in a genuine sense by ceasing as of May 1 this year all hostile acts and eliminating their means, including broadcasting through loudspeakers and distribution of leaflets, in the area along the Military Demarcation Line."

North Korea at the time removed dozens of speakers from around 40 places.

In response, the South Korean military said it is reviewing an option to reinstall its speakers.