"All the residents have sleep disorders due to the sound of ghosts at dawn"... North Korea's loudspeaker damage is "extreme."

ⓒYonhap News Agency

As North Korea's loudspeaker noise against the South has been continuing for months, the health of people in the border area is reportedly seriously threatened.

According to Gimpo City, Gyeonggi Province on the 21st, the city's mental health welfare center conducted mental health tests on 102 residents of Seongdong-ri, Wolgot-myeon, Gimpo, and Siam and Hupyeong-ri, Haseong-myeon, on the border from the 8th to the 14th, and two were classified as "high-risk groups" and 27 as "interest groups."

Most of the residents, who are elderly in their 70s and 80s, showed sleep disorders, stress, and anxiety in this test.

In the Gimpo border area, North Korea's loudspeaker noise against the South has been transmitted in earnest since September, causing mental and physical damage to residents.

A resident complained, "I can't sleep at night because a bizarre loudspeaker noise that seems to be sharpening iron is being transmitted from the north day and night," adding, "My daily life is difficult because of the anxiety that I don't know what will happen."

The Mental Health and Welfare Center in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, a border area, also conducted an on-site survey of 78 residents in Dangsan-ri, Songhae-myeon, Ganghwa-gun, where damage from South Korean broadcasting was concentrated on the 2nd, and found that about 10% complained of difficulties in daily life.

In particular, it is reported that all 147 households in Dangsan-ri suffer from sleep disorders due to animal sounds, ghost sounds, and siren sounds that are heard every night, and many are taking sleeping pills.

In Ganghwa-gun, including here, more than 22,600 residents of four towns and villages, including Songhae, Yangsa, Gyodong-myeon, and Ganghwa-eup, have been affected by North Korea's noise broadcasts that have expanded since the end of July.

The Incheon Metropolitan Government will first spend 350 million won in reserve to install sound insulation facilities in 35 households in Dangsan-ri, the closest sound source to North Korea's noise broadcasting.

Reporter Lee Yu Na from Digital News Team.