YEONCHEON/SEOUL -- Tension prevailed across the Demilitarized Zone after South Korea reactivated sets of loudspeakers for anti-Pyongyang broadcasts on Friday in a first punitive step against the North’s fourth nuclear test two days ago. 

At noon, the “Voice of Freedom” show began with the host’s comment expressing his resolve to quit smoking this year, followed by the 1980s rock band Gun Son’s popular song “No Smoking” and Rimi and Potato’s “Baby I’m Cold.”

Cheong Wa Dae announced the restart of the program late Thursday in an apparent display of Seoul’s resolve for stern reaction to the Kim Jong-un regime’s unchecked brinkmanship. It had been idle since a 15-day airing that ended on Aug. 25 with an inter-Korean agreement over Pyongyang’s land mine attack.

Unfolding at 11 locations along the heavily fortified border, the broadcasts provide a rare source of outside news and music for North Korean front-line troops and residents of border regions caged up in the reclusive society. It has four main themes, each aimed at promoting freedom and democracy, illustrating the South’s political and economic ascent, recovering national homogeneity and revealing the reality of the regime, according to Seoul’s Defense Ministry.

For the reopening, the military upgraded the content to criticize the recent atomic test, while adding latest hit tunes such as Lee Ae-ran’s viral “A Centennial Life,” GFriend’s “Me Gustas Tu,” A.Pink’s “Let us just love” and Big Bang’s “Bang Bang Bang.”

“We plan to air the show for two to six hours every day on an irregular basis but in a way that prevents any damage from a possible attack across from the border and minimize the residents’ inconvenience,” a military official told reporters, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

“Most subjects are based on facts, and some are about human rights violations and others the nuclear test, saying the regime is worsening already difficult economic circumstances.”

The apparatus is expected to evoke the rage of Pyongyang that deems it as direct threats to the leadership.

Shortly after the South resumed the broadcasts last August in retaliation against the mine provocation, the North fired artillery shells near a loudspeaker erected in a western border town, declaring a “quasi-state of war” and forward-stationing offensive assets and troops in full combat readiness.

Many defectors who resettled in the South have testified that they had first come to know about the South and the outside world through the broadcasts, which can travel as far as 10 kilometers. This means that those walking down the streets of the North Korean border city of Gaeseong may hear the sounds seeping out of the speakers run by the 1st Infantry Division headquartered in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

To boost vigilance, the South Korean military has moved forward some artilleries and elevated its readiness posture and Information Condition levels by one notch, though the Watch Condition remains intact.

“The North appears to have also been deploying more frontline troops and strengthening monitoring,” a Defense Ministry official told reporters on customary condition of anonymity.

Seoul, meanwhile, stepped up diplomatic efforts with Washington, Beijing and other world powers as they are working on levying new sanctions against Pyongyang at the U.N. Security Council and also the bilateral fronts.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se in particular requested the cooperation of Beijing, which has a veto power and remains the North’s top political and economic benefactor. Hwang Joon-kook, the South’s top nuclear negotiator, also spoke with his counterpart Wu Dawei on the phone.

By Shin Hyon-hee and Joint Press Corps (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)