On Wednesday, North Korea announced the massive recruitment of more than 1.4 million young people, including students and leaders of youth organisations, into its army. This comes amid escalating tensions with South Korea, which Pyongyang accuses of launching drones into its airspace, Reuters reports.
According to the official report of the DPRK state news agency KCNA, “millions of young people have joined the national struggle to remove garbage from the Republic of Korea”, referring to South Korea, which Pyongyang accuses of serious provocations and violations of the country’s sovereignty through drone invasions.
North Korea, where military service is compulsory for all men and has been for many years, has repeatedly announced massive voluntary enlistments during periods of heightened tension with South Korea or the United States.
The reason for the current escalation was, according to Pyongyang, repeated flights of drones into North Korean airspace. These drones, according to DPRK officials, were scattering propaganda leaflets containing “insulting slander” against the country’s leadership.
Pyongyang has warned that further launches of propaganda drones will be considered a “declaration of war”. On Sunday evening, North Korea ordered eight artillery brigades to prepare to open fire and reinforced observation posts around the capital.
South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun initially denied Seoul’s involvement in the drone flights, but later the country’s military command said it could not confirm the veracity of the North Korean accusations.
Activists from South Korea have been sending balloons with propaganda materials and dollars to the North for many years, which has angered Pyongyang. Authorities in the South Korean province of Gyeonggi, which borders North Korea, have announced the creation of special danger zones along the border, where any attempt to launch propaganda materials will be investigated.
The incident has only exacerbated tensions between North and South Korea, which have been in conflict for decades after the Korean War, which ended in an armistice but not a peace agreement.
