SEOUL: North Korea claims that around 800,000 of its people volunteered to join the country’s military to fight against the United States (US), North Korea’s state-run newspaper reported on Saturday.
According to the Rodong Sinmun newspaper around 800,000 workers and students on Friday expressed a desire to reenlist or enlist in the military to combat the US. North Korean claim came after Pyongyang on Thursday launched its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in reply to ongoing South Korea-US military exercises.
US-South Korea joint drills
Pyongyang fired the missile into the sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula on Thursday, hours before the South Korean president left for Tokyo to attend a summit that discussed means to counter nuclear-armed North Korea, Reuters reported. North Korea’s ballistic missiles are banned as per UNSC resolutions and the launch also drew condemnation from Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington.
The US and South Korea began eleven days of joint military drills, dubbed as “Freedom Shield 23,” on Monday, conducted on a scale not seen since 2017 in order to counter North Korea growing threats. North Korea’s leader Kim accused the US and South Korea of growing tensions with the military exercises.
