North Korea’s state-run daily Rodong Sinmun, about 800,000 North Koreans had volunteered to fight against the United States. The assertion was made following the launch of North Korea’s Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Pyongyang’s launch coincided with the current South Korea-US Freedom Shield (FS) drill, which North Korea referred to as “preparations for an invasion”
North Koreans are eager for conflict.
Tuesday, March 14, 2023, at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, a television screen displays a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news broadcast. (AP)
North Korea verified the missile launch and described it as a “stronger warning” to the United States and South Korea.
North Korea stated, “Due to the frantic, provocative, and aggressive large-scale war drills conducted by the United States and the south Korean puppet traitors against the DPRK, the most unstable security environment is being created on the Korean peninsula. On March 16, the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) oversaw a launch drill of the ICBM Hwasongpho-17.”
“The launching drill of the strategic weapon serves as an opportunity to issue a stronger warning to the enemies who are intentionally escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula while persistently resorting to irresponsible and reckless military threats in defiance of the DPRK’s severe warning, and to give an understanding of the concern about the armed conflict that has become a threatening reality, as well as to demonstrate more clearly the practical will of the Party and government of the DPRK.”
