North Korea claims 800,000 young people have volunteered to fight U.S.

March 18 (UPI) -- North Korea claimed on Saturday that 800,000 young citizens had volunteered to enlist in the military to fight the United States.

A story published by the official Korean Central News Agency news agency claimed hundreds of thousands of students and "working young people" across the nation had volunteered "to turn out in a campaign to defend the country and annihilate the enemy."

The volunteers, it said, expressed "the determination to eliminate all the war maniacs rushing about like tiger moth."

The actions are necessary to counter "moves to provoke a nuclear war by the [United States] and the South Korean puppets" as Korean and American forces engage in 11 days of joint drills, the report declared.

Washington and Seoul say they are seeking to counter growing threats from North Korea with the joint drills. North Korea has angrily denounced the ongoing U.S.-South Korea Freedom Shield joint military exercise, which will continue through Thursday.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he will host South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol for talks in April.

North Korea test-fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday, with leader Kim Jong Un attending the demonstrations. The missile traveled roughly 620 miles and reached a maximum altitude of 3,750 miles before "accurately landing on the preset area in the open waters off the East Sea," KCNA said.

The launch took place hours ahead of a summit between Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on regional security issues in Tokyo.