More than 3.5 million North Koreans join the army to prepare for possible US conflict

North Korea has announced that around 3.5 million workers and party members have volunteered to join or rejoin the army amid the growing geopolitical crisis with the United States.

The country's official newspaper, Rodong Simmun, reported that the huge intake of new military members came after the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) issued a statement regarding the new UN sanctions that were brought in on Monday (7 August).

It is thought that the sanctions, that were backed by all 15 voting nations, including the United States, Russia and China, will cut North Korea's exports by a third.

The past seven days have seen a sharp increase in the rhetoric between Donald Trump and Pyongyang after fresh sanctions were imposed following a series of high-profile missile tests.

Donald Trump has threatened North Korea with "fire and fury" as well as tweeting that the US was "locked and loaded".

It follows the announcement that North Korea had miniaturised a nuclear warhead capable of reaching the mainland US.

Pyongyang then said that it was considering attacking the US Pacific island territory of Guam.

A rally was held on the streets of Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, on Wednesday (9 August) to show support to the Kim regime.

These rallies are commonplace during periods of increased tensions as a show of force to the rest of the world.

North Korea already has one of the largest militaries in the world with just over 1.1 million people in the active army as well as millions more in the reserves and paramilitary.