[Yonhap Photo]
North Korea ratcheted up its rhetoric with fresh threats to stage a missile attack on Guam, a US strategic air base in the Western Pacific, and turn Seoul into a sea of fire, after President Donald Trump said the North would be met with "fire and fury".
Pyongyang's sabre-rattling was directed simultaneously at Seoul and Guam. In its first statement, the North's military warned it was ready to stage a preemptive strike on US bases in the Pacific as well as key targets in South Korea if Washington launches a "preventive war".
In a separate warning, the North's Strategic Force said it's now "carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas" around Guam with its Hwasong-12 ballistic missiles to contain the flight of US strategic bombers including B-1Bs capable of carrying nuclear weapons,
The North has reacted hysterically to the deployment of US strategic bombers which staged sporadic joint drills with South Korean fighter jets. The latest flight of two B-1B bombers was reported on Tuesday.
The North's Strategic Force said it would carry out its operational plan to fire Hwasong-12 missiles around Guam randomly and concurrently on an order from leader Kim Jong-un.
In a series of test launches this year, Pyongyang claimed the Hwasong-12 could put US military bases in Hawaii and Alaska within its range. Experts cast doubt over its capabilities saying the missile was seen as a longer variant of the North's existing medium-range Musudan missile.
Trump said earlier that Pyongyang would be met with "fire and fury" if it continues to threaten the United States. "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen."
Last week, Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said Washington is preparing for a "preventive war" with North Korea. "If they have nuclear weapons that can threaten the United States, it's intolerable from the president's perspective. So of course, we have to provide all options to do that. And that includes a military option," he told MSNBC.
Pyongyang has issued a series of threats following the US-led adoption of new UN sanctions prompted by its ICBM tests.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
