North Korea threatens strike on Guam
North Korea's military is "examining the operational plan" to strike areas around the US territory of Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic missiles, state-run news agency KCNA said early Wednesday local time.
Specifically, the statement mentioned a potential strike on Andersen Air Force Base designed "to send a serious warning signal to the US."
The base is one of two on the Pacific island, which are the closest bases on US soil to North Korea, and represent westernmost tip of the country's military might.
The North Korea comments were published after US President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang that if it continued to threaten the US, it would "face fire and fury like the world has never seen."
However, the statement was dated Tuesday, suggesting the text was written before Trump's latest spray.
Guam's governor, Eddie Baza Calvo, released a video address Wednesday, reassuring the island's residents that there was no escalated threat.
"I want to reassure the people of Guam that currently there is no threat to our island or the Marianas," he said.
He added that there was no change in the threat level resulting from North Korea.
"I also want to remind national media that Guam is American soil and we have 200,000 Americans in Guam and the Marianas. We are not just a military installation."
Guam's Homeland Security Advisor George Charfauros told CNN that despite Guam's strategic importance and the North Korean threats to strike it, he remains confident of the island's defenses.
"They've slowly developed their capabilities but we stand in high confidence with the US (Defense Department's) ability to not only defend Guam and the surrounding areas but also the continental US... There are several layers of ballistic missile defense."
One of these systems, he said, is THAAD, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which is designed to shoot down short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles.
"Two years ago a permanent deployment of that missile system was placed on Guam," he said.
He added that the US "routinely uses" Aegis-equipped warships around the island chain of the Marianas, of which Guam is the largest.
The US Department of Defense reiterated its capability to counter North Korean aggression.
"We always maintain a high state of readiness and have the capabilities to counter any threat, to include those from North Korea," spokesman Johnny Michael told CNN.
Source: CNN http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/08/politics/north-korea-considering-guam-strike-trump/index.html
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