Seoul:
North Korean state media reported on Wednesday that about 1.4 million young people, including students and youth league officials, had joined or returned to the army this week.
The young people are determined to fight in a “holy war to destroy the enemy with the weapons of the revolution,” the KCNA report said.
North Korea’s claim that more than one million young people are enlisting in the Korean People’s Army in just two days comes as tensions rise on the Korean peninsula.
Last year, North Korean media made a similar claim that its citizens were voluntarily joining the military to fight against the United States.
North Korea blew up sections of inter-Korean roads and railways on its side of the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas on Tuesday, prompting the South Korean military to fire warning shots.
Pyongyang has also accused Seoul of sending drones over the North Korean capital, and the two Koreas have clashed over garbage balloons flown from North Korea since May. Pyongyang said the launches were in response to balloons sent by anti-regime activists in the South.
“If war breaks out, the ROK will be wiped off the map. Since it wants war, we are ready to end its existence,” the KCNA report said.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published by a syndicated channel.)
