Just hours after US President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang on Tuesday that any threat to the US would be met with "fire and fury", North Korea said that it is considering a missile strike on the US Pacific territory of Guam.
North Korea open to holding dialogue with Donald Trump administration
The North's official news agency -- Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) -- said it was considering a plan to fire medium-to-long-range rockets around Guam, where US strategic bombers are based.
A spokesman of the Korean People's Army told the North Korean media that the strike plan will be "put into practice in a multi-current and consecutive way any moment" once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision.
However, the governor of Guam, Eddie Calvo dismissed the threat and said the island was prepared for "any eventuality" with strategically placed defences. According to a Reuter's report, he also said he had been in touch with the White House and there was no change in the threat level.
"Guam is American soil ... We are not just a military installation," Calvo was quoted as saying by Reuters in an online video message.
Though it was earlier reported that Pyongyang was ready to give Washington a "severe lesson" with its strategic nuclear force in response to any U.S. military action, the US soon lashed back at them. It said that it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea's nuclear missile programme. But the US added that it prefers global diplomatic action.
A US missile strike would prove deadly for South Koreans, Japanese and U.S. military personnel within the range of North Korean retaliatory strikes.
"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," Trump told the media on Tuesday at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
