Trump warns of 'fire and fury'; N. Korea threatens to strike Guam
By Jun Ji-hye
North Korea threatened to strike areas around Guam with strategic missiles in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's warnings of "fire and fury," ratcheting up military tension here.
The North Korean military said Wednesday that it would fire missiles topped with nuclear warheads at areas around Guam, home to U.S. naval and air bases, claiming it stands ready to stage an all-out war if Washington presses ahead with a "preventive war" against Pyongyang.
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| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un |
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| U.S. President Donald Trump |
The verbal threat by the Kim Jong-un regime came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump warned the North will be met with "fire and fury like the world has never seen" if it continues to threaten his country. Trump made the remarks during a briefing at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to Reuters.
On Saturday, Trump's top security adviser, H.R. McMaster, also said the U.S. government is preparing for a preventive war with the North among other options on the table to deal with its nuclear and missile threats.
Preventive strikes are carried out to remove the enemy's strategic facilities in advance to prevent an attack. This is a different concept from pre-emptive strikes that are conducted when there is a clear sign of an enemy attack.
A spokesman of the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA) Strategic Force said in a statement it was "now carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam with medium- to long-range strategic ballistic Hwasong-12 rockets in order to contain the U.S. major military bases on Guam, including the Anderson Air Force base."
The spokesman noted that such a plan would be put into practice "in a multi-concurrent and consecutive way" as soon as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un makes a decision.
A spokesman of the North's General Staff Department also said in a separate statement Pyongyang would respond with full-scale nuclear war to a possible U.S. attempt to conduct a preventive war.
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On May 14, Pyongyang successfully test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), the Hwasong-12, "capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead." At the time, the regime there claimed the missile fell precisely onto a designated target 787 kilometers away in the sea after reaching a maximum altitude of 2,111 kilometers.
Based on such data, military analysts assessed that if the test had been conducted at a normal angle, the missile might have flown about 5,000 kilometers, which is, in theory, capable of reaching Guam.
But questions still remain over the accuracy of the Hwasong-12 IRBM.
If the North pushes ahead with firing such missiles at areas around Guam and proves their accuracy and capabilities, it will be regarded as a very grave provocation that cannot even be compared to its test-firing of ballistic missiles into the East Sea.
Few options
Some experts say South Korea seems to have few options to use against the Kim regime while military tension between Pyongyang and Washington, which has a direct impact on Seoul, escalates.
The Moon Jae-in government has offered to resume military and Red Cross talks as part of efforts to implement his peace overture but Pyongyang has not responded, claiming such offers lacked sincerity.
The North has only kept conducting missile provocations including the July 4 and 28 test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles believed to be capable of striking targets on the U.S. mainland. Such repeated provocations are viewed as Pyongyang's attempts to exclude Seoul and directly negotiate with Washington.
The Ministry of Unification said the government is closely cooperating with the U.S. and keenly monitoring the movements of the North Korean military in preparation for additional provocations.
"Our military has made every preparation to respond to any possible situation," spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said. "The government will make consistent efforts to establish peace and stability on the peninsula, and achieve reconciliation between the two Koreas."
Baik also said the government will continue to wait for the North to respond to dialogue offers.
（作者：汽车电瓶）
