SEOUL – North Korea claims that about 800,000 of its citizens volunteered to join or re-enlist in the nation’s military to fight against the United States, Pyongyang’s state newspaper reported on Saturday.

About 800,000 students and workers, on Friday alone, across the country expressed a desire to enlist or re-enlist in the military to counter the US, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported.

The North’s claim came after the country on Thursday launched its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in response to ongoing US-South Korea military drills.

North Korea fired the ICBM into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan on Thursday, hours before South Korea’s President flew to Tokyo for a summit that discussed ways to counter the nuclear-armed North.

The North’s ballistic missiles are banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions, and the launch drew condemnation from governments in Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.

South Korean and American forces began 11 days of joint drills, dubbed Freedom Shield 23, on Monday, held on a scale not seen since 2017 to counter the North’s growing threats.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accused the US and South Korea of increasing tensions with the military drills. REUTERS