(Photo : STR/AFP via Getty Images)
This undated photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 26, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) presiding over a target strike exercise conducted by the special operation forces of the Korean People's Army (KPA) at an undisclosed location. North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles on August 26, the US military said, following weeks of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang.
North Korea announced on Saturday that 800,000 of its young citizens had volunteered to join the military in the fight against the United States.
A report released by the government-run Korean Central News Agency said that hundreds of thousands of students and "working young people" from all around the country had offered to volunteer to join "in a campaign to defend the country and "annihilate the enemy," as UPI reported.
The volunteers were determined "to eliminate all the war maniacs" swarming around like "tiger moths," the article added.
While Korean and American soldiers conduct 11 days of joint training, the report said that the measures are vital to combat "moves to provoke a nuclear war" by the United States and South Korea.
NEW: North Korea says 800,000 youth signed up for military service in a single day Friday at state-organized rallies, according to state media, saying they will "completely wipe out US imperialists and puppet traitors" and achieve "reunification"
— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) March 17, 2023
More @nknewsorg soon pic.twitter.com/Y4hJPGxiN5
Washington and Seoul said the exercises intended to address North Korean threats. The continuing US-South Korea joint military exercise Freedom Shield, which will carry on until Thursday, has drawn a furious rebuke from Pyongyang.
In April, US President Joe Biden will meet with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.
US Slammed Latest North Korea ICBM Test
The mass enlisting news comes after North Korea launched an ICBM into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan on Thursday, just hours before South Korea's president traveled to Tokyo for a summit to talk about countermeasures against Pyongyang's growing nuclear threat, as per an Al Jazeera report.
The governments of Seoul, Washington denounced the launch, and Tokyo since ballistic missiles from the North are prohibited by resolutions of the UN Security Council.
The White House lambasted North Korea for firing an intercontinental ballistic missile hours before a meeting with South Korea and Japan in Tokyo.
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National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement that the United States "strongly condemns the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) intercontinental ballistic missile test," per a previous HNGN report.
In addition, the White House spokesperson urged other countries to condemn the recent North Korean missile launch, saying that the national security team is in constant contact with its allies.
South Korea, Japan Boost Ties To Counter North Korean Threats
The South Korean head of state, Yoon Suk-yeol, visited Japan for the first time in 12 years to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. During the meeting between the two Asian leaders, they discussed measures to strengthen the two nation's business, political, and security partnerships, amid the continued threats by the regime of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un.
The White House praised the summit and referred to Japan and South Korea as "indispensable" partners." A State Department spokesperson noted that the US hails Japanese Prime Minister Kishida and South Korean President Yoon for the "positive" measure moving forward.
The US official remarked that "improved ties" between the two US allies in the region will help "embrace trilateral opportunities to advance our common regional and international priorities," which includes the vision for a "free and open Indo-Pacific, according to Reuters.
The two nations decided to end a nearly four-year trade dispute over certain high-tech elements used in chips, which has hampered their ties despite the growing political significance of semiconductors and guaranteeing their supply.
They also decided to restore a security discussion that had been put on hold in 2018 and to resume their usual annual bilateral meetings. Yoon also pronounced the GSOMIA intelligence-sharing agreement to be fully normalized, reversing Seoul's threat to leave it in 2019.
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