North Korea announced the volunteering of more than a million people for the army

North Korea said Wednesday that more than a million young men had volunteered to join the military this week after Pyongyang accused the South’s military of sending drones into its airspace.

Pyongyang on Tuesday blew up symbolically important roads and railways linking the two Koreas after warning that any drone flights would be considered a declaration of war and ordering soldiers stationed along the border to be ready to fire.

Seoul has denied sending the drones, but Pyongyang says it has clear evidence that its southern neighbor was officially involved in sending the drones, which are believed to be carrying anti-regime propaganda leaflets dropped over the North Korean capital.

“Millions of young people joined the nationwide struggle to eliminate the scum of the Republic of Korea who made a dangerous provocative act of violating the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of Korea through infiltration of drones,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.

It said more than 1.4 million youth league officials and students from across North Korea volunteered to join or return to the Korean People’s Army on October 14 and 15.

North Korea imposes lengthy compulsory military service on all men and has previously announced waves of volunteers during periods of heightened tensions with Seoul or Washington.

It’s not yet clear who is behind the drones, but South Korean activists have long sent balloons carrying anti-regime leaflets across the border, a tactic that has angered the North, which has responded by sending balloons loaded with garbage into its southern neighbor.

South Korean authorities are moving in areas near the border with the North to prevent activists from launching balloons.

To protect its citizens, the Gyeonggi provincial government will designate Yeoncheon, Gimpo and Paju as “special ‘danger zones’ where anyone sending leaflets to the North could face criminal investigation,” a Gyeonggi provincial official told AFP.

The provincial government said in a statement that it considered distributing anti-North leaflets a dangerous act that causes a crisis and could ignite a military conflict.

The Japanese government warned on Wednesday of an escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after Pyongyang blew up parts of roads that were previously used for trade between the two Koreas.

“These North Korean actions could escalate tensions between the South and the North and it is important to avoid them,” said Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki.

He added during a press conference in Tokyo that the Japanese government will do everything in its power to collect, analyze and monitor necessary information on future developments in North Korea.

On Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korea blew up parts of the Gyeongui and Donghae roads north of the military demarcation line.

Seoul denounced the totally abnormal provocation, recalling that it largely financed the construction of these roads.

The North Korean military announced on October 9 that it was planning a move that would completely cut off roads and railways linking the North to South Korea and establish strong defensive fortifications along the border between the two countries.

The border between the two Koreas has been closed since the end of the war in 1953, and the bombed roads and railway lines between the two countries have only been opened during brief periods of calm.