Anchor: For the first time in six years, Seoul has restarted loudspeaker broadcasts near the inter-Korean border in response to North Korea’s decision to send trash balloons into South Korea. As the South Korean military played the "Voice of Freedom" programs towards the North near the heavily-fortified demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, the regime responded by sending another batch of hundreds of balloons to the South, containing toilet paper, cigarette butts and other rubbish. 
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: South Korea has begun propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers along the inter-Korean border in response to the trash balloons North Korea has been sending to the South.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) on Sunday announced the resumption of the psychological warfare operations near the demilitarized zone(DMZ) between the two Koreas.

Via the loudspeakers, the military played the "Voice of Freedom," a radio program produced by the defense ministry's psychological warfare unit, according to the JCS. 

Dubbed the "Echoes of Freedom," the military operation came shortly after the North released over 300 balloons late Saturday and early Sunday, despite repeated warnings.
 
Earlier on Sunday, the presidential office’s National Security Office convened a meeting to decide on the resumption of the DMZ loudspeaker operations.
 
While announcing the decision, the presidential office said that “the measures will deliver light and hope to the military and people of North Korea, although they will be difficult for the North Korean regime to endure.”
 
The JCS said that it is entirely up to North Korea whether additional loudspeaker operations will follow in the DMZ, stressing that the North is responsible for the current situation.  
 
Just hours after the loudspeaker broadcast on Sunday afternoon, however, the North began to release another round of over 300 trash balloons to the South.
 
Over the four occasions since last month, North Korea has released a total of around one-thousand-600 balloons, carrying filthy waste and trash to the South.
 
North Korea’s vice defense minister had said last week that the North would stop sending the trash balloons to South Korea but vowed to resume the activity if anti-North Korean leaflets are flown over again by activists in the South.
 
North Korea has consistently denounced the propaganda campaign from the South, seeking to curtail an influx of outside information to the reclusive country.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.