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North Korea says 800,000 youth join military to ‘wipe out’ the US and ROK
Apparent escalation comes days after nuclear missile test as DPRK accuses allies of ‘crossing a line’Colin Zwirko March 18, 2023
Young North Koreans attend a state-organized rally to sign up for military service | Image: Rodong Sinmun (March 18, 2023)
A day after launching a long-range nuclear missile as a warning to the U.S. and South Korea, “around 800,000” young North Koreans signed up for military service and vowed to “completely wipe out” enemies and unify the Koreas, according to state media on Saturday.
The Rodong Sinmun report said the “Youth Vanguard rose up at once to join the war to defend the homeland and the war to destroy the enemy,” referred to in the article as the “U.S. Imperialists and puppet traitors [who] are trying to destroy our independence and right to live and develop.”
It repeated refrains from state propaganda in recent weeks that “provocations” by Washington and Seoul “are crossing a line that can no longer be tolerated” and that North Korea seeks to demonstrate it can “overpower” enemy military capabilities.
The U.S. and South Korea started two weeks of large-scale joint military exercises last Monday. Pyongyang has demanded an end to the drills and conducted a series of missile launches and warned that the situation could escalate to war.
Photos released with Saturday’s report showed young people waiting in line to sign documents at state-organized rallies held Friday at theaters and construction sites. Military enlistment numbers “are continuously rising” around the country, it said.
North Korean youth are reportedly determined to “mercilessly wipe out the war fanatics who are making a last ditch effort to erase our socialist fatherland” and to “achieve the great work of reunification.”
While the ages of those who reportedly signed up were not announced, all men in North Korea must serve in the military for at least 10 years and women for at least three years due to the country’s conscription system.
The report appears to signal an escalation in domestic anti-U.S. and South Korea propaganda. The last time state media reported on a similar campaign was in June 2020, when Pyongyang organized a series of anti-South Korean rallies and threatened to attack Seoul if it did not stop groups from flying anti-Kim Jong Un leaflets over the border.
It follows a state media report on Friday that showed off enemy weapons capabilities to domestic audiences in the most detail seen in years, which experts said appeared to be part of efforts to raise tensions.
Prior to warming relations between North Korea and both the U.S. and South Korea in 2018, the organizing of such rallies was more regular. They typically involved citizens holding posters depicting nuclear attack against the U.S. and vitriolic slogans about “tearing apart” enemies.
Meanwhile, a lengthy editorial on the Rodong Sinmun front page Saturday urged citizens to continue bearing “hardships” and pursue the ruling party’s construction and agriculture goals as authorities build up nuclear weapons to fend off enemy states.
North Korea says 800,000 youth join military to 'wipe out' the US and ROK | NK News
A day after launching a long-range nuclear missile as a warning to the U.S. and South Korea, “around 800,000” young North Koreans signed up for military service and vowed to “completely wipe out” enemies and unify the Koreas, according to state media on Saturday. The Rodong Sinmun report said...
www.nknews.org