South Korea's border island Ganghwa is subjected to nightly broadcasts of eerie sounds by North Korea, including gunshots and screams, as tensions between the two Koreas continue to rise. This campaign is part of a series of escalations this year, including missile tests and trash-carrying balloons.
The noise campaign is the latest manifestation of steadily-declining ties between the two Koreas this year © ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP: Gunshots, screams, eerie laughter: South Korea ’s border island Ganghwa is being bombarded nightly with blood-curdling sounds, part of a new campaign by the nuclear-armed North that is driving residents to despair.
The northern point of Ganghwa -- an island in the Han river estuary on the Yellow Sea -- is only about two kilometres from the North. Ganghwa county councillor Park Heung-yeol said the new broadcasts were “not just regime propaganda -- it’s genuinely intended to torment people”.“Almost every regime has used noise torture and sleep deprivation,“ Rory Cox, a historian at the University of St Andrews, told AFP.Exposure to noise levels above 60 decibels at night increases the risk of sleep disorders, experts said, but AFP tracked levels of up to 80 decibels late at night on Ganghwa during a recent trip.
The sound effects are “like something found in a South Korean horror film in the 70s and 80s,“ said sound engineer Hwang Kwon-ik.
North Korea South Korea Border Tensions Noise Campaign Military Escalation
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