The young people are determined to fight in a “sacred war of destroying the enemy with the arms of the revolution,” the KCNA report said.

North Korea’s claim of more than one million young people enlisting in the army in just two days comes at a time when tensions in the Korean peninsula are running high.

Last year, North Korean media made a similar claim of its citizens volunteering to join the military to fight against the US.

North Korea blew up sections of inter-Korean roads and rail lines on its side of the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas on Tuesday, prompting South Korea’s military to fire warning shots.

Pyongyang has also accused Seoul of sending drones over the North Korean capital and the two Koreas have clashed over balloons of trash floated since May from North Korea. Pyongyang has said the launches are a response to balloons sent by anti-regime activists in the South.

“If a war breaks out, the ROK will be wiped off the map. As it wants a war, we are willing to put an end to its existence,” the KCNA report said.