North Korea ‘seriously examining’ a strike near Guam

North Korea is “seriously examining a plan” to launch a missile strike targeting an area near the US territory of Guam in response to US President Donald Trump’s warning to Pyongyang that any additional threats will be met with “fire and fury,” according to a new statement from Gen. Kim Rak Gyom published by state-run media KCNA Thursday.

The North Korean Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) is “seriously examining the plan for an enveloping strike at Guam through simultaneous fire of four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range strategic ballistic rockets in order to interdict the enemy forces on major military bases on Guam and to signal a crucial warning to the US,” the statement said.
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.

Last month Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles, known as Hwasong-14, which it says are capable of hitting the US mainland.

In response to the missile tests, the UN Security Council passed a resolution imposing new sanctions. The resolution, which targets North Korea’s international revenue streams, was passed unanimously after strong lobbying from the United States. The US separately announced sanctions on North Korea, alongside Iran and Russia.

KCNA said that a KPA spokesman had “fully warned the US against its all-round sanctions.”

According to the KCNA statement, North Korea will have a plan to send Hwasong-12 missiles toward Guam by “mid-August and report it to the commander-in-chief of the DPRK nuclear force and wait for his order.” Kim Jong Un is understood to be the commander-in-chief of the nuclear force.

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