North Korea’s state newspaper claimed on Friday that nearly five million citizens “volunteered to join or rejoin in the Korean People’s Army” in the past week, looking to fight against President Donald Trump.
“Let us blow up the U.S. empire of evils with five million nuclear bombs!” the volunteers chanted, according to the Rodong Sinmun report. “Let us annihilate all the American lunatics running amuck like tiger moth!”
Rodong cites “data available” as stating that “more than 4.7 million youths and students and working citizens across the country volunteered to join or rejoin in the Korean People’s Army in a matter of six days.” North Korea is estimated to be a nation of about 25 million people, meaning the government is claiming that nearly 20 percent of its population has suddenly expressed interest in enlisting in the military.
Of those 4.7 million, Rodong suggests that nearly two million were young students and entry-level workers and that “Kim Il Sung University, Ri Su Bok Sunchon University of Chemical Engineering and Hwangnam University of Technology” showed significant levels of interest in being recruited.
The article goes on to claim 1.22 million of the volunteers are women.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), another state media service, explained that the alleged newfound interest in the army followed a statement against President Trump from communist dictator Kim Jong-un, who inspired North Koreans to play a role in the “final sacred war against the U.S.” The article quotes one alleged recruit, identified as steelworker “Choe Hui Chol”:
Trump, not aware of his doomed fortune, dared make reckless remarks to totally destroy the DPRK. So, I am determined to take up the arms of the revolution in my hand to cut off the windpipe of Trump at a blow and thus give vent to the grudge and wrath of our people against the U.S. imperialists. It is a unanimous will of all the young people working at the complex.
In addition to reporting on an alleged spike in interest in fighting for the communist military, Rodong Sinmun published yet another screed attacking President Trump’s campaign to unite the international community in implementing sanctions against North Korea for its rampant human rights abuses against its people and its continuation of an illegal nuclear weapons program.
“The U.S. is the root cause of misfortune in our planet,” Rodong Sinmun declared, adding:
The U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK compelled the DPRK to further strengthen the strategic position and dramatically changed the structure of force in the region. The unbiased public opinion has praised Juche Korea’s access to inter-continental ballistic missile as a great event that changed the power structure in the world arbitrarily dominated by the U.S.
North Korean state media appears particularly incensed at comments President Trump made during the United Nations General Assembly, where he promised the “total destruction” of North Korea if Kim continued to threaten a preemptive nuclear attack on U.S. soil.
“This is a last-ditch effort of the U.S. panic-stricken by the intense hatred and burning rage of our army and people towards the U.S. chief executive who vociferated about ‘totally destroying’ the DPRK,” KCNA railed in yet another statement. “The U.S. is trying to realize its unethical ambition through the despicable means of sanctions and blockade to completely severe [sic] the DPRK’s external economic relations.”
North Korea also released yet another propaganda video last weekend dramatizing a North Korean preemptive attack on an American aircraft carrier. Pyongyang has published several such videos depicting nuclear attacks on major American population centers and the U.S. military.
President Trump has vowed to contain the North Korean threat while acknowledging that the situation is a delicate one. “You had various administrations — many administrations which left me a mess. But I’ll fix the mess,” Trump said this week during a press conference at the White House with Spanish President Mariano Rajoy. “He’s acting very badly. He’s saying things that should never, ever be said and we’re replying to those things, but it’s a reply.”
“It is time for all responsible nations to join forces to isolate the North Korean menace,” Trump asserted.
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