1.4 Million North Koreans Students Rush to Enlist to ‘Punish the South’ – What’s Next?

On Wednesday, North Korea’s state-run media, Korean Central News Agency, reported that over 1.4 million young people and students across North Korea applied to join the People’s Army over two days following a drone incident in Pyongyang.

According to the state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, this surge in enlistment reflects the determination to “punish the South Korean trash that violated our sacred republic’s sovereignty and security fills the entire nation” and emphasized that over 1.4 million young people signed enlistment and re-enlistment applications nationwide. Citing comments from young applicants, the report said they were determined to “show the madmen the true taste of war.”

North Korea frequently highlights external threats, particularly from the U.S. and South Korea, to rally internal support. On the same day, Rodong Sinmun also published articles describing how residents, outraged by the drone incident, channeled their anger into productive farming efforts.