NORTH KOREA: North Korea claims that around 800,000 of its residents volunteered to enlist or reenlist in the country’s military in order to fight against the United States, as reported by North Korea’s state newspaper on Saturday.
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that on Friday alone, approximately 800,000 students and workers nationwide expressed a wish to enlist or reenlist in the military to oppose the United States.
“The younger generation’s unwavering determination to ruthlessly eliminate the war maniacs making last-ditch efforts to destroy our beloved socialist country and successfully advance the great cause of national reunification is demonstrated by the soaring enthusiasm of young people to join the military. It is also a blatant example of their fervent patriotism,” said North Korea’s newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
The North’s assertion follows the launch of its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday in retaliation for ongoing military exercises between the United States and South Korea.
On Thursday, hours before the president of South Korea flew to Tokyo for a summit where strategies for deterring the nuclear-armed North were reviewed, North Korea launched an ICBM into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
The launch was denounced by the governments of Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington, as ballistic missiles from the North are banned under resolutions of the UN Security Council.
American forces and South Korean forces started 11 days of joint drills on Monday, called “Freedom Shield 23,” conducted on a scale that has not been seen since 2017 to counter North Korea’s rising threats.
Kim blamed South Korea and the United States for inflating tensions with the military exercises.
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