Anchor: With just four days left until the historic inter-Korean summit opens, South Korea’s military is working to ease tensions to make the summit a success. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has more. 

Report: South Korea has stopped broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda across the border ahead of the inter-Korean summit talks set for Friday.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that it halted propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts across the Military Demarcation Line as of 12 a.m. Monday to reduce military tensions between the two Koreas and create a peaceful mood for the summit talks.

The ministry hoped that with its latest move, the two Koreas will stop slandering each other and halt propaganda activities to move toward peace.

South Korea started propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts in May 1963, repeating halts and resumptions according to changes in cross-border relations. 

Seoul stopped the broadcasts in 2000 when the two Koreas held their first summit. However, it reactivated the loudspeakers in 2015 after the North's sinking of the South Korean Cheonan naval vessel before suspending them again the same year. Then in response to the North’s fourth nuclear test, the South resumed the loudspeaker broadcasts in January 2016.

The broadcasts have functioned as a major means of psychological warfare aimed at undermining the North’s ideologies. Via some 40 loudspeakers, the South’s military mainly broadcasts major news, weather and popular songs. In response, the North has been engaging in its own propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers. 

With the summit pending, attention is being drawn to whether the two Koreas will seek to stop the broadcasts and remove the loudspeakers. Some military officials say the two Koreas could discuss measures to fully halt the broadcasts and jointly remove guard posts within the Demilitarized Zone in a bid to build trust. 

Another measure being considered ahead of the summit is readjusting the agenda for joint South Korea-U.S. military drills. 

Seoul and Washington are reportedly set to conclude their Foal Eagle joint exercise on Thursday instead of at the end of the month and hold a debate on plans for next year’s exercises on Friday. 

The Key Resolve joint exercise, which began on Monday for a two-week run, meanwhile, is expected to be suspended for one day on the day of the summit. A final decision is expected to come during a meeting early this week between South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Jeong Kyeong-doo and U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks. 
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.

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