South Korea’s soccer chief Chung Mong-gyu will discuss reviving cross-border internationals with his North Korea counterparts on a visit to Pyongyang later this month, the Korea Football Association (KFA) said on Monday.

Sino-ROK normalization has brought enormous economic and trade benefits to both countries, but over two decades of ever-closer “partnership” between Beijing and Seoul, South Korea has never gained the level of strategic support from Beijing that it has desired as leverage in dealing with North Korea. 

The outcome of apology diplomacy between the countries never satisfies any of the parties. Despite some heartfelt apologies from the Japanese government, neither Beijing nor Seoul has been satisfied. Words that have been used in textbooks, visits by Japanese prime ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine, movies and fiction about World War II have all became divisive issues in one of the economic engines of the world.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, the country’s main agency for inter-Korean affairs, said an under-15 international soccer tournament in Pyongyang began on Friday and is proceeding as planned. The competition involves squads from countries that include China, Brazil and South Korea.

Soft-power sound war escalates as Seoul and Pyongyang turn up the volume on propaganda transmitted over border.[...] South and North Korea have begun a high-volume propaganda war, blasting radio broadcasts across the demilitarised zone after a landmine explosion exacerbated tensions along the border between the two countries.

North Korea has threatened to attack South Korean loudspeakers broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda messages across their shared - and the world's most heavily armed - border.