North Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA) has just announced that about 1.4 million young people, including students and youth union officials, have volunteered to join or re-enlist in the North Korean army in the past week. According to KCNA, these young men expressed their determination to participate in the “sacred war” to destroy their opponents, and warned that if war broke out, Korea could be erased from the map. These bold statements come amid escalating tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul, but are difficult to verify.
In the past, North Korea has made similar statements when faced with tense situations. In 2022, North Korean media also reported that about 800,000 young people volunteered to fight the US. In 2017, they announced that nearly 3.5 million people volunteered to join the army.
According to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), North Korea currently has about 1.28 million regular troops and 600,000 reserve troops, making it one of the most militarized countries in the world. Many reports show that North Korea has spent up to 1/3 of GDP on defense by 2022, second only to Ukraine in the ratio of defense spending to GDP.
Tensions between North and South Korea have escalated after recent clashes. On October 15, North Korea detonated part of the roads near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), prompting the South Korean military to fire warning shots. Both sides have also repeatedly criticized and accused each other, with South Korea warning that North Korea will face “the end of its regime” if it causes any harm to the South Korean people.