North Korea says more than 1.4 million young people across the country have volunteered to join or return to the military over the past two days.
North Korea’s ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported on Wednesday that this surge in enlistment followed what Pyongyang described as a grave violation of its sovereignty by South Korea.
North Korea has accused South Korea of flying drones to scatter propaganda leaflets over its capital earlier this month.
The newspaper said the enlistments represent “an eruption of the hatred and retaliatory spirit of the younger generation.”
It said they are determined to “end the horrible evil relationship” with what it called “the scum who committed a hideous crime to ignite a war.”
An expert says Pyongyang’s responses to the alleged drone activity are aimed at instilling the view among the North Korean public that the South is no longer a target of peaceful unification but a hostile nation.
North Korea blew up sections of inter-Korean roads and rail links on its side of the boundary on Tuesday. It has yet to make an announcement on the move.