North Korea is "carefully examining" plans for a missile strike on the US Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after US President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the US would be met with "fire and fury".
North Korea has made no secret of plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to strike the US and has ignored international calls to halt its nuclear and missile programs.
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 US major military bases on Guam including the Anderson Air Force Base," the spokesman said.
The plan would be reported to the North's Supreme Command soon, the spokesman said.
In another statement citing a different military spokesman, North Korea also accused the US of devising a "preventive war" and said any plans to execute this would be met with an "all-out war wiping out all the strongholds of enemies, including the US mainland".
The UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday over its continued missile tests.
Trump ratcheted up the rhetoric against North Korea on Tuesday, saying Pyongyang should not make any more threats against the US in a meeting with reporters at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Reuters
