North Korea claims that about 800,000 citizens have enrolled or re-enlisted in the country’s army to fight against the United States, according to the North Korean press cited by international agencies.
The number was registered in just one day, on Friday, with students and workers demonstrating their willingness to confront “the provocation of nuclear war by the US imperialists”, says a statement from the North Korean authorities. .
North Korea’s statement came after the country launched its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday in response to military exercises by the United States of America and South Korea.
The missile was fired between the Korean peninsula and Japan, hours before the South Korean president traveled to Tokyo for a conference where ways of responding to the US arsenal were discussed.
These ballistic missiles are prohibited by resolutions of the Security Council of the United Nations, having the launching originated the condemnation of the governments of Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.
South Korean and US forces on Monday began 11 days of joint exercises known as “Freedom Shield 23”, on a scale not seen since 2017. Kim Jong-un accused the two countries of increasing the tension with these military exercises.
