Up to 800,000 people in one day signed up for fight against US: DPRK

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
18 Mar 11:17
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Around 800,000 students and workers across the country expressed a desire to register or reenlist in the military to counter the United States on Friday alone, as per a local newspaper.

A DPRK flag flies on a mast at the Permanent Mission of DPRK in Geneva. (Reuters)

Approximately 800,000 DPRK citizens volunteered to join or reenlist in the country's military to fight against the United States, as per North Korea's state newspaper.

According to the Rodong Sinmun daily, around 800,000 students and workers across the country expressed a desire to register or reenlist in the military to counter the United States on Friday alone.

This comes shortly after DPRK test-fired its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, the Voice of Korea radio station reported, amid US-South Korea's largest joint military exercise in 5 years spanning over ten days.

It is worth noting that DPRK conducted its eighth missile test since the beginning of the year on March 16. It occurred in the run-up to South Korea's first visit to Japan in 12 years.

Following the launch of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un pledged that Pyongyang will continue to take measures against military provocations of the United States and South Korea, whose governments remain "openly hostile" to DPRK.

He threatened Washington and Seoul with "countermeasures" if their "military provocations" against the DPRK continued, North Korea’s state-run Voice of Korea radio quoted him as saying.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he vowed to "respond to nuclear weapons with nuclear weapons, and to open confrontation - with open confrontation."

He urged the country's strategic forces to be prepared "for military confrontations and every type of warfare" in this respect. Simultaneously, Kim emphasized Pyongyang's ultimate goal of deterring war and ensuring peaceful life.

In a related context, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno announced on Friday that its government has sanctioned three DPRK officials involved in the development of nuclear and missile programs of DPRK in response to Pyongyang's launch of a Hwansong-17 ballistic missile on Thursday.

"These provocative actions, taken with unprecedented frequency, constitute a serious and imminent threat and are totally unacceptable," Matsuno told a briefing.

The new sanctions list includes Jon Il Ho, the deputy head of the Munitions Industry Department, Kim Su Gil, the former director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, and Yu Jin, a former head of the Munitions Industry Department, as per a Japanese Foreign Ministry statement.

The severe measures include a ban on any transactions with the three DPRK officials and the freezing of all their assets in Japan if they are discovered, as per the statement.