Tension As North Korea Threatens Missile Attack On U.S Base Guam

North Korea has said it is considering plans to fire “medium-to-long-range” ballistic missiles on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, where US strategic bombers are based.

The strike plan would be put into practice at any moment once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision, a spokesman for the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said in a statement carried by the North’s state-run KCNA news agency.

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“The KPA Strategic Force is now carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 in order to contain the U.S. major military bases on Guam including the Anderson Air Force Base,” the statement said.

The latest threat comes just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with “fire and fury”.

Trump’s warning came after Pyongyang said it would “make the US pay dearly” for helping spearhead the passage of new UN sanctions against North Korea in response to two recent missile tests.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday over its continued missile tests, a decision that angered Pyongyang.

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On Monday, two US B-1 bombers flew from Guam over the Korean Peninsula as a part of its “continuous bomber presence,” a U.S. official said, in a sign of the strategic importance Guam holds.

In a message to the public, the governor of Guam Eddie Baza Calvo said there was currently “no threat” to the island and the Marianas archipelago, but that Guam was “prepared for any eventuality”.

North Korea has made no secret of plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to strike the United States and has ignored international calls to halt its nuclear and missile programs.

A report in the Washington Post citing US intelligence officials, suggested North Korea was developing nuclear weapons capable of hitting the US at a much faster rate than expected.

On Tuesday, media reports in the US claimed the North had achieved its goal of making a nuclear warhead small enough to fit inside its missiles.

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