The message of readiness for large-scale mobilization in North Korea is called the response to the joint military exercises of the United States and South Korea. A day earlier, Pyongyang launched a Hwaseong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile into the sea.
North Korea claims that about 800,000 of its citizens have volunteered to join the army to fight against the United States. This is reported by Reuters, referring to the North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
According to media reports, on March 17, about 800,000 students and workers across the country expressed their desire to enlist in the military – for the first time or again – to resist the United States.
“The growing enthusiasm of young people, their desire to join the army is a demonstration of the unshakable will of the younger generation to mercilessly exterminate war maniacs who are making their last attempts to destroy our precious socialist country and carry out the great cause of national reunification. This is a clear manifestation of their ardent patriotism,” pages of the North Korean edition.
Kim Jong-un and daughter Kim Joo-ae inspecting KN-23 missile launchers
What made Pyongyang mobilize
According to the publication, the statement from Pyongyang to mobilize 800,000 army came after the South Korean and US military on March 13 launched a large-scale 11-day joint exercise “Freedom Shield 23” to counter the growing threats from the North.
North Korea launched the Hwaseong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile in response to US-South Korean military exercises on March 16. The missile was launched into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan on Thursday, hours before the South Korean president flew to Tokyo for a summit that discussed ways to counter a nuclear-armed North.
The launch by North Korea was condemned by governments in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, as North Korean ballistic missiles are banned by UN Security Council resolutions. In turn, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accused the United States and South Korea of heightening tensions in connection with military exercises.
Recall that back on February 18, North Korea threatened to take “unprecedented” decisive action against South Korea and the United States, which only announced plans to hold joint military exercises.
In January 2023, Focus wrote that, according to Western experts, North Korea’s stockpile of nuclear warheads is estimated at between 15 and 60 pieces.
