On 17th March 2023, more than 8,00,000 youth league officials and students in North Korea showed their willingness to join the military forces to fight against the United States of America (USA). According to a report by North Korean media Rodong Sinmun, this was done in an exercise by North Korea to demonstrate “the practical will of action to use powerful physical force to exercise strict control over the enemies”.
This claim by North Korea came after the launch of its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, 16th March 2023. This launch is seen as a response to the joint military exercises between the US and South Korea.
According to reports, youths and students in Pyongyang and other regions of North Korea organized gatherings to volunteer for army service. It is also reported that the commanding officers and volunteers of the Paektusan Hero Youth Shock Brigade, as well as many other working youngsters, requested that they be given the opportunity to lead a great battle against the USA.
North Korea’s state news agency KCNA stated, “Under the grave situation in which the most unstable security environment is being created in the Korean peninsula due to the frantic, provocative and aggressive large-scale war drills conducted by the US and the south Korean puppet traitors against the DPRK, the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WK) saw to it that a launching drill of the ICBM Hwasong Pho-17 was conducted on March 16.”
It further said, “The launching drill of the strategic weapon serves as an occasion to give a strong warning to the enemies intentionally escalating the tension in the Korean peninsula while persistently resorting to irresponsible and reckless military threats in defiance of the DPRK’s severe warning, and give an understanding of the concern about the armed conflict which has come to a threatening reality, and to more clearly show the practical will of the Party and government of the DPRK to counterattack with overwhelming offensive measures anytime.”
Detailing the range and capabilities of the missile, the statement mentioned, “The ICBM Hwasongpho-17, launched at the Pyongyang International Airport, traveled up to a maximum altitude of 6,045km and flew a distance of 1,000.2 km for 4151s before accurately landing on the preset area in the open waters of the East Sea of Korea.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally supervised the launch of an ICBM unit during a drill. Senior members of the WK Central Committee and commanding officials from the Missile General Bureau were present, and Kim Jong-un himself saw the launch. The drill’s goal was to test North Korea’s nuclear war deterrent system’s reliance and operational preparedness under practical and mobile circumstances.
