With North Korea and America both refusing to blink first in the ongoing crisis, despot Kim Jong-un has now announced a massive army recruitment programme.

An article in a Pyongyang-based propaganda newspaper today declared already more than 3.5 million people had signed up to fight.

The propaganda rag claimed these millions were volunteers and included students and former soldiers - although the truth is likely to be far more grim.

As revealed by Express.co.uk last year, life in the North Korea army is one of pain, hunger and oppression.

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And with absolute obedience to the three-generation Kim dynasty demanded, these military volunteers are more likely to be malnourished and desperate civilians forced into action.

The newspaper claimed 3.47 million people had asked to enlist in the army since the North Korean crisis began.

READ MORE: How many nuclear weapons do North Korea have?

All the people are rising up across the country to retaliate against the US

North Korea newspaper

The piece said: "All the people are rising up across the country to retaliate against the US thousands of times. In North Hwanghae Province, 89,000 young men pleaded to enlist or reenlist on August 9 alone.

In Daedong County of South Pyongan Province, more than 20,000 students, party members and labourers filed enlistment or reenlistment requests.

READ MORE:What is life like in the North Korean army?

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It comes as the war of words moved another step closer to all-out conflict after US president Donald Trump said America was locked and loaded for battle.

And Japan has moved missiles and defence systems to its major cities in preparation for a missile attack.

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Hiroshima, Shimane and Kochi are particularly at risk as any North Korea missile fired at the US territory of Guam would pass directly overhead.

While Pyongyang said any missile would be aimed to miss the island and merely used to send a warning, any malfunction of the missile over Japan could put hundreds of thousands of people at risk - and given North Korea's patchy success record in missile launches, this is a major threat.

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KIM'S ARMY: WW3 looms as 3.5 MILLION 'volunteer' to fight for North Korea against USA - Express.co.uk