Youth league representatives and students volunteered for military service to fight “US imperialists”, state media reports.
According to state media, hundreds of thousands of young North Koreans have volunteered for military service to fight “American imperialists”. On Friday alone, more than 800,000 youth league officials and students across the country applied to join the people’s army, KCNA said on Saturday. Photos by the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed long lines of young North Koreans at what appeared to be a construction site.
North Korea says it tested its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17, on Thursday. State media described the test as a response to joint US-South Korean military exercises. KCNA warned on Saturday that its biggest maneuvers in five years were approaching an “unforgivable red line”.
South Korea threatens to act
Pyongyang views such maneuvers as preparation for an invasion of North Korea and has repeatedly threatened “overwhelming measures”. Last year, ruler Kim Jong-un declared his internationally isolated country an “irreversible nuclear power”. Earlier this month, he also ordered the military to step up maneuvers in preparation for a “real war”.
(APA/AFP)