North Korea Claims 1.4 Million Volunteer for Army as Tensions with South Korea Escalate

[Social Media]

 

Amid increasing hostilities with South Korea, North Korean state media reported on Wednesday that approximately 1.4 million young people have applied to join or return to the army. This surge in enlistment was attributed to rising tensions following what Pyongyang describes as a "provocative drone incursion" from Seoul, which they claim has pushed the region to the brink of war.

 

The North's state news agency, KCNA, alleged that drones sent by South Korea had scattered a large number of anti-North Korean leaflets over Pyongyang. This prompted North Korea to retaliate by destroying inter-Korean roads and rail links on its side of the border and issuing warnings that the South would "pay a dear price." The situation has been framed by the North as a looming conflict that requires the nation's youth to prepare for a "sacred war of destroying the enemy with the arms of the revolution," as quoted by KCNA.

 

KCNA also released photographs showing young North Koreans, including students and youth league officials, signing petitions to enlist. The images, while taken at an undisclosed location, were meant to bolster the narrative of a nation rallying in defense. "If a war breaks out, the ROK will be wiped off the map. As it wants a war, we are willing to put an end to its existence," KCNA reported, referring to the Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official name. However, such statements have been difficult to independently verify given the isolation of the North.

 

This isn’t the first time North Korea has made sweeping claims about enlistment numbers. In 2022, state media similarly claimed that 800,000 citizens had volunteered to join the military in a stand against the United States. And in 2017, North Korean media said that 3.5 million people, including workers, party members, and soldiers, had volunteered to fight. Despite these figures, verifying such claims is nearly impossible. According to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), North Korea currently has about 1.28 million active soldiers, with another 600,000 reservists and 5.7 million Worker/Peasant Red Guard reservists in various unarmed units.

 

While North Korea's rhetoric escalates, Seoul has remained measured. South Korea’s defense ministry did not comment on the latest KCNA report but has made it clear in the past that any harm inflicted on its citizens by the North would mark the "end of its regime." Amid these tensions, vice foreign ministers from South Korea, the United States, and Japan were scheduled to meet in Seoul on Wednesday for talks to address the situation.

 

An official from South Korea’s unification ministry suggested that North Korea might be attempting to consolidate internal unity and build a pretext for further provocations. Pyongyang, facing mounting economic challenges, could be using these heightened tensions to distract from domestic issues, the official added. Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, supported this theory, noting that the North appears to be leveraging the drone incident to sever ties with the South and push for a "two-state" system.

 

"If you look at the interviews that keep appearing in state media, there are very harsh words toward the South, and that's their typical public mobilization propaganda," Park said.

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has taken an increasingly aggressive stance toward the South, labeling it a "primary foe" earlier this year and declaring that unification is no longer a viable option. Since then, the North has ramped up efforts to cut all inter-Korean ties. The two Koreas remain technically at war, as their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty.

 

The tension between the neighbors has also been exacerbated by a balloon war of sorts, with North Korea sending balloons filled with trash since May in response to anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by South Korean defectors and activists. "Overall, there seems to be a sense of legacy building here, of Kim Jong Un looking to fundamentally change the status quo on the Korean Peninsula to preserve permanent two Korean states," remarked Jenny Town of the U.S.-based Stimson Center.

 

Based on a report from Reuters 2024-10-17

 

 

 

[Luuk Chaai]

North Korea Claims 1.4 Million Volunteer for Army as Tensions with South Korea Escalate

 

Future headline .... Land invasion ....  1.4 million rifles dropped at border on South Korea side

as soldiers figured out how to get out of North Korea

 

[thesetat2013]

I do not think S. Korea has much to worry about except for the possibility of Nukes being used. The N. Korean soldiers have already shown their faces ( I mean their butts running away) in Russia as soon as they saw real action in fighting. 18 fled and are being hunted down even now.

 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/10/15/7479792/

 

Also, if Un really has so many volunteering it is most likely to be a forced volunteer or for face value only. 

Or perhaps the N. Koreans volunteering are doing so they will have a chance to flee N. korea. 

[Tug]

Wonder what happens if they say no!

[Asquith Production]

2 hours ago, thesetat2013 said:

I do not think S. Korea has much to worry about except for the possibility of Nukes being used. The N. Korean soldiers have already shown their faces ( I mean their butts running away) in Russia as soon as they saw real action in fighting. 18 fled and are being hunted down even now.

 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/10/15/7479792/

 

Also, if Un really has so many volunteering it is most likely to be a forced volunteer or for face value only. 

Or perhaps the N. Koreans volunteering are doing so they will have a chance to flee N. korea. 

I hope the relatives of the 18 have gone into hiding 

[herfiehandbag]

16 minutes ago, Asquith Production said:

I hope the relatives of the 18 have gone into hiding 

Unfortunately they are probably already in the death camps.

[john donson]

volunteers?  like... who wants to eat a little bit today...

 

hunger game style...

 

everybody loves the great leader

 

wait, where did I hear that before... death penalty for sure there, and 15 years in prison here... if you fail to agree... democracy right?

[klauskunkel]

6 hours ago, Social Media said:

North Korea sending balloons filled with trash since May in response to anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by South Korean defectors and activists.

Congrats to North Korea: This is the first evidence I have read that NK's economy has now evolved into producing trash, previously they couldn't spare anything having consumed it all...

[ignore it]

I see no problem getting volunteers.

 

Most will probably also volunteer to go and fight with the Ruskies in the Ukraine, so they can surrender and life a relatively free life.

[AndreasHG]

The leaflet South Korean activists drop on Pyongyang is particularly damning. It shows how many kilograms of rice or wheat can be bought for the price of Kim Jong Un's IWC watch ($13,400) or Kim Ju-ae's (his fatty daughter) Dior leather jacket (a few more thousands of US$).

 

Not a good sight for someone who closely followed the epilogues of Nicolae Ceaușescu's, Muammar Gaddafi's and Saddam Hussein's lives.

 

Hence the threat to burn Seoul and its 10 million inhabitants to ashes.

 

Kim Jong Un would rather be known as the regime's propaganda leaflets portray him, gloriously riding a white horse while trampling an American flag.

 

Edited October 17 by AndreasHG