North Korea Defies Trump’s Warning, Plans Missile Attack On Guam Mid-August

North Korea is working on a plan to fire four missiles into the sea off Guam, which will be ready to present to leader Kim Jong Un by mid-August, state media KCNA reported Thursday.

The plan, if implemented, would see four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missiles fired into waters 30 to 40 kilometers (18 to 25 miles) off the coast of the US territory in response to escalating rhetoric from President Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, Trump vowed to meet any additional threats from Pyongyang with “fire and fury,” a statement backed by strong words from US Defense Secretary James Mattis.

North Korea must “cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people,” Mattis said in a written statement Wednesday.

Earlier, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had sought to defuse tensions by saying there was no sign the threat level of North Korea had changed and that Americans should “sleep well at night.”

North Korea’s estimated splash-down of the missiles would place them just outside of Guam’s 12 nautical mile territorial waters, but well within its 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

However, the new statement from North Korea’s state media made clear that Kim is in no mood to back down.

It criticizes Trump for having “let out a load of nonsense about ‘fire and fury,’ and accused him of “failing to grasp the on-going grave situation.”

“This is extremely getting on the nerves of the infuriated Hwasong artillerymen of the KPA,” it said, referring to the Korean People’s Army.

The article states that “sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him.”

It ends by putting the US on notice about any further threats against it, “we keep closely watching the speech and behavior from the US.”

The sudden escalation in tensions in the Pacific came after US intelligence analysts assessed that North Korea has now produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead, according to multiple sources familiar with the analysis of North Korea’s missile and nuclear program.

There is no indication that the Hwasong-12 missiles that could be fired near Guam would be tipped with nuclear warheads.

However, a South Korean military official says that there have been no indications that Pyongyang is readying a strike.

“Currently, there is no unusual movement related to a direct provocation,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Roh Jae-cheon said in a press briefing.
CNN