South Korea suspends propaganda radio broadcasts to North Korea

The Voice of Freedom broadcast news and K-pop music in North Korea, a country that tightly controls its population's access to all external content. The suspension is "part of measures to reduce military tensions with the North," Defense Ministry spokesman Lee Kyung-ho told reporters Monday.

The station went off the air in 2004 during a period of rapprochement between the two countries, before resuming broadcasting in 2010 in the wake of a torpedo attack by Pyongyang on a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors.

"Hypocrite"

President Lee Jae-myung, who came to power in June, has already taken measures to appease Pyongyang, such as halting loudspeaker propaganda along the inter-Korean border.

But North Korea has said it is not interested in improving relations with Seoul. It called Lee Jae-myung a "hypocrite" after he made statements about denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula during a visit to the United States, a key ally of South Korea.