SEOUL听–听North Korean state media聽said on聽Wednesday around聽1.4 million young people聽had applied to join聽or return to the army聽this week,听accusing Seoul of a provocative drone incursion that had brought the “tense situation to the brink of war”.
The young people,听including students and youth league officials who had signed petitions to join the army, were determined聽to fight in a “sacred war of destroying the enemy with the arms of the revolution,” the KCNA report said.
Photographs published by KCNA showed what it said were young people signing petitions at an undisclosed location.
North Korea’s claim of having聽more than聽one million young people聽volunteering to enlist聽in the country’s Korean People’s Army in just two days comes at a time when tensions on the Korean peninsula are running high.
North Korea has made similar claims in the past when there have been heightened tensions in the region.
Last year,听state media reported on聽聽volunteering to join the聽North’s聽military to fight against the United States.
In 2017, nearly 3.5 million workers, party members and soldiers volunteered to join or rejoin its army, the聽聽said at that time.
It is very difficult to verify the North’s claims.
According to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), North Korea has 1.28 million active soldiers and about 600,000 reservists.
The IISS also said it had 5.7 million Worker/Peasant Red Guard reservists with many units unarmed.
In the latest sign of the growing tensions, North聽碍辞谤别补听聽sections of inter-Korean roads and rail lines on its side of the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas on Tuesday, prompting South Korea’s military to fire warning shots.
Pyongyang had said last week it would cut off the inter-Korean roads and railways entirely and further fortify the areas on its side of the border as part of its push for a “two-state” system, scrapping its longstanding goal of unification.
The two Koreas are still technically at war after their 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
North 碍辞谤别补听has also accused Seoul of sending drones over聽its capital and the two Koreas have clashed over balloons of trash floated since May from North Korea. Pyongyang has said the launches are a response to balloons sent by anti-regime activists in the South.聽South Korea’s government has declined to say whether its military or civilians had flown the alleged drones over Pyongyang.
“If a war breaks out, the ROK will be wiped off the map. As it wants a war, we are willing to put an end to its existence,” the KCNA report said, referring to the South’s official name the Republic of Korea.
South Korea’s defense ministry warned on Sunday “if North Korea inflicts harm on the safety of our people, that day will be the end of the North Korean regime,” Yonhap news agency reported. – Reuters
