When darkness falls, psychoterror chases away the silence in this part of South Korea: unbearable sounds like sirens begin to be heard, mixed with another noise - as if someone is dragging iron bars on the ground. "Sometimes you can also hear a dog barking or ducks quacking", a local resident tells the German public broadcaster ARD. And his neighbor adds: "These noises are so terrible that I can hardly sleep. Our nerves are stretched to the limit. We got sick".
"Men drink, women take sleeping pills"
A hundred people live in the village of Siam-ri on the South Korean side of the border. And they are all exposed to the unbearable noise night after night. They have no choice but to barricade themselves in their houses and close all the doors and windows.
But that doesn't help either - the noise is reaching them everywhere. "The men have started drinking. The women are stuffing themselves with sleeping pills", the village mayor, Lee Tae-song, told ARD.
Farmer Lee Hong-go shows reporters from the German media where the noise is coming from - a few kilometers away, on the other side of the border, a pole with loudspeakers can be seen directing the sound waves directly towards the village of Siam-ri.
"It has never been this bad"
Lee has lived in the village for 70 years. He has experienced many tensions between South Korea and the communist North. But it has never been this bad, he says. The noise terror from North Korea is haunting everyone around. Lee likens it to machine gun fire. "And it goes on all night", the man says.
It all started in the summer of 2024, when North Korea launched balloons filled with garbage at its southern neighbor. In response, the South began to bombard North Korea with Korean pop music and messages over loudspeakers. North Korea's response was the noise attack - an endless spiral of mutual provocations, ARD summarizes.
The danger of war has not been so tangible in decades
According to observers, the danger of war between North and South Korea has not been so tangible in decades. North Korea is making new and new threats to the South, and dictator Kim Jong-un has even declared South Korea "enemy number one".
North Korea's alliance with Russia is further exacerbating the situation. Pyongyang has found in Russia a partner it hasn't had since the collapse of the Soviet Union, ARD notes. Meanwhile, dictator Kim has also supported Putin with thousands of North Korean soldiers in the war against Ukraine.
North Korea's alliance with Russia could provide the regime in Pyongyang with the means and equipment to modernize its weapons arsenal, and perhaps even its nuclear program. A development that does not bode well for the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
"No unnecessary provocations"
South Korea is watching all of this with concern. "If Kim continues to support Putin, he will certainly repay him," suggests South Korean expert Moon Sung-mok. "At the same time, many South Koreans believe that the government should not provoke North Korea unnecessarily," the expert adds.
Among other things, this also applies to the acoustic exchange of blows along the border. The people of Siam-ri are convinced that North Korea will only stop the terror when the South also turns off its loudspeakers. That is why Mayor Lee Tae-song has one wish above all: "Please stop these loudspeakers aimed at North Korea." In his village, however, the terror continues for the time being, night after night.
Author: Ulrich Mendgen (ARD)