North Korea has escalated its rhetoric, accusing South Korea of drone incursions that have brought the situation “tense to the brink of war.”
South Korea claims more than 1 million young people have registered to join or re-enlist in the military this week, state media reports after accusing South Korea of flying propaganda drones into Pyongyang and blowing up border roads. Ta.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday that 1.4 million young people, including students and youth group members, had signed a petition asking them to join the military.
KCNA refers to the two countries by their official acronym, saying, “Millions of young people have rallied in a nationwide struggle to wipe out the South Korean scum who have committed serious provocations that violate North Korea’s sovereignty through drone intrusion. I did,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from South Korea. South Korea has previously warned that if North Korea threatens the safety of South Koreans, that day will be the “end of the North Korean regime.”
North Korea imposes compulsory military service on men for up to 10 years, but has previously claimed that more people volunteer to join the military during times of heightened tensions with South Korea or the United States. was.
State media reported last year that 800,000 people had volunteered to join North Korea’s military to fight the United States. The newspaper reported that in 2017, approximately 3.5 million workers, party members and soldiers served in the voluntary military. It is difficult to verify such statements from an isolated country.
According to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), North Korea has 1.28 million active soldiers and about 600,000 reservists, including 5.7 million workers and peasants Red Guard reservists among its many unarmed forces. There is.
“If war breaks out, South Korea will disappear from the map. Korean Central News Agency wants war, so we will end its existence,” he said, signing a petition at an undisclosed location. Photos of young people doing so were also released.
Rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula
The report was released as North Korea blew up part of an inter-Korean road along the border on Tuesday, shattering long-held unification goals.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles cross-border issues, condemned the act as “highly unusual.”
Ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam said at a press conference, “It is regrettable that North Korea is repeating such retrogressive behavior.”
In response to this incident, the South Korean government fired warning shots on the south side of the military demarcation line between North and South Korea.
This comes after North Korea flew a drone over the capital Pyongyang last week, accusing South Korea of distributing “huge numbers” of anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets and warning that any further flights would be considered a declaration of war. Tensions increased significantly.
South Korea’s government initially denied sending the drones, but North Korea claims it has “clear evidence” of official involvement.
The two countries have also been in a dispute since May over balloons filled with garbage sent across the border by North Korea.
North Korea said the balloons were used in retaliation for balloons sent by South Korean activists that contained anti-North Korean leaflets and USB sticks with K-pop songs.
