N Korea threatens to strike Guam
WASHINGTON DC — North Korea said yesterday its leader Kim Jong-un was weighing whether to strike the United States Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump vowed to meet Pyongyang’s threats “with fire and fury like the world has never seen”.
WASHINGTON DC — North Korea said yesterday its leader Kim Jong-un was weighing whether to strike the United States Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump vowed to meet Pyongyang’s threats “with fire and fury like the world has never seen”.
The sharp exchange of threats dramatically escalated tensions, rattling financial markets and prompting warnings from US officials and analysts for the White House not to engage in rhetorical slanging matches with North Korea.
But a defiant Mr Trump hammered home his tough talk in a Twitter post last night about US nuclear weapons in what looked like another warning to North Korea. “My first order as President was to renovate and modernise our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before,” he said.
“Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!”
In chilling language that evoked the horror of a nuclear exchange, Mr Trump had sought on Tuesday to deter North Korea from any actions that would put Americans at risk. But it was not clear what specific actions would cross the line.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Mr Trump told reporters at his golf club in New Jersey, where he is spending much of the month on a working vacation. “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” he added.
Undaunted, North Korea warned several hours later that it was considering a strike with medium- to long-range ballistic missiles that would create “an enveloping fire” around Guam, the western Pacific island where the US operates a critical Air Force base.
In recent months, American strategic bombers from Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base have flown over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force.
“It is a daydream for the US to think that its mainland is an invulnerable heavenly kingdom,” said the Strategic Force of the North’s Korean People’s Army, or KPA, in a statement.
“The US should clearly face up to the fact that the ballistic rockets of the Strategic Force of the KPA are now on constant standby, facing the Pacific Ocean and pay deep attention to their azimuth angle for launch.”
The statement added that the strike plan against Guam would be launched at “any moment”, once the supreme leader had made a decision.
In an apparent bid to tamp down tensions Mr Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State, said yesterday that there was no “imminent threat” from Pyongyang and that “Americans should sleep well at night.” Speaking on a flight from Malaysia to Washington with a stop in Guam, Mr Tillerson said: “I think what the president was just reaffirming is that the United States has the capability to fully defend itself from any attack, and our allies, and we will do so.”
The international community had a “pretty good week” with respect to North Korea, he said, citing new United Nations sanctions and strong statements coming out of a meeting of world leaders in Asia.
“In response to that, North Korea’s rhetoric is just ratcheted up, louder and louder and more threatening,” Mr Tillerson told reporters. “So I think ... what the president is doing is sending a strong message to North Korea in language that Kim Jong-un would understand, because he doesn’t seem to understand diplomatic language.”
Just moments after Mr Tillerson’s remarks were reported, China weighed in, to try to defuse the crisis, calling all parties to seek a political settlement and “avoid any words or actions that may intensify the problem and escalate the situation”.
The South Korean government also sought to ease concerns about the situation, saying that the North’s recent posturing, including its threat to attack Guam, appeared to be aimed at tightening solidarity among its own population and causing its neighbours anxiety.
“The situation has become more serious on the Korean Peninsula,” a senior official at the presidential Blue House told South Korean reporters, speaking in a briefing on the condition of anonymity. “But we don’t think it has reached a crisis stage yet.”
In Japan, a senior government official sought to frame Mr Trump’s remark as an effort to warn Mr Kim’s government that military action remained a possibility, as the new sanctions begin going into effect.
“He’s saying that the United States is putting all options on the table,” said the official, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. “Our government approves of that stance. It’s extremely important that the Japan-US alliance further strengthens its ability to deter and respond.”
Mr Trump’s declaration that “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” came after reports Pyongyang had cracked one of the final technological challenges in nuclear missile design by successfully producing a miniaturised warhead.
Mr Trump’s critics have accused him of baiting the North Korean regime under Mr Kim, who predicates his rule on his missile programme and threats to the US.
“I take exception to the president’s comments because you (have) got to be sure that you can do what you say you’re going to do,” Mr John McCain, Republican Senator and chairman of the armed services committee, told reporters, adding it brings the US “closer to confrontation”.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement saying: “We need to be firm and deliberate with North Korea, but reckless rhetoric is not a strategy to keep America safe.’’ AGENCIES