North Korea said more than a million young people enlisted in the army this week after Pyongyang accused Seoul’s military of launching drones into its airspace, Korean media reported.
Pyongyang blasted symbolic roads and railways connecting the two Koreas, warning that any further drone flights would be seen as a declaration of war, and ordered soldiers on the border to prepare to fire.
Last week, the General Staff Department (GSD) of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) warned it would close all roads and railways linked to South Korea from October 9.
Seoul initially denied sending drones, but Pyongyang says it has “clear evidence” of official involvement in the campaign, in which anti-regime propaganda leaflets were allegedly scattered over the North’s capital. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said:
According to consolidated data, in two days, October 14 and 15, nationwide, more than 1.4 million Youth Union leaders and young people expressed their ardent desire to join and return to the People’s Army.
Tensions rise between the Koreas
Tensions between the Koreas rose after North Korea accused Seoul of launching drones over Pyongyang allegedly dropping anti-government leaflets. However, the South Korean military says it did not direct its drones into North Korean airspace.
At the same time, the South is considering the possibility that such actions may have been carried out by civilian groups involved in distributing anti-regime leaflets in North Korea. In response to the incident, North Korean troops blew up sections of roads and railway tracks near the border, after which the South Korean army opened warning fire.
In addition, shortly before these events, the media reported that the DPRK was planning to revise the Constitution, removing the clause on the unification of the two Koreas from it. However, after a meeting chaired by Kim Jong Un, at which these changes were expected to be adopted, either they were not made or information about it was not made public. The KCNA also added:
If war breaks out, the Republic of Korea will be wiped off the face of the earth. Since it wants war, we are ready to put an end to its existence.
Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea’s armed forces, cancelled a planned trip to the US amid escalating tensions with the DPRK.
