North Korea said on Wednesday it is considering plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury".
The sharp increase in tensions rattled global financial markets and prompted warnings from U.S. officials and analysts not to engage in rhetorical slanging matches with North Korea.
Pyongyang said it was "carefully examining" a plan to strike Guam, home to a U.S. military base that includes a submarine squadron, an airbase and a Coast Guard group.
A Korean People's Army spokesman said in a statement carried by state-run KCNA news agency the plan would be put into practice at any moment once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision.
In another statement citing a different military spokesman, North Korea also accused the United States 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 U.S. mainland".
Washington has warned it is ready to use force if needed to stop North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programmes but that it prefers global diplomatic action, including sanctions. The U.N. Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday.
Trump issued his strongest warning yet for North Korea in comments to reporters in New Jersey on Tuesday.
"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 said.
READ: Trump says North Korea will be met with 'fire and fury' if it threatens U.S
North Korea has made no secret of its plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to strike the United States and has ignored international calls to halt its nuclear and missile programmes.
Pyongyang says its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are a legitimate means of defence against perceived U.S. hostility. It has long accused the United States and South Korea of escalating tensions by conducting military drills.
U.S. stocks closed slightly lower after Trump’s comment and S&P stock futures slipped further in Asian trade, while a widely followed measure of stock market anxiety ended at its highest in nearly a month.
The U.S. dollar index edged down and the safe-haven yen strengthened against the U.S. currency after North Korea's response. Asia stocks dipped, with South Korea's benchmark index and Japan's Nikkei both falling 0.5 percent.
"North Korea have no intentions of backing down. Tensions will continue to mount and could eventually develop into a black swan event that the markets are not prudently considering," Steve Hanke, professor of Applied Economics at the Johns Hopkins University, told the Reuters Global Markets Forum.
TENSIONS RISE
The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Seoul is home to roughly 10 million people, within range of massed North Korean rockets and artillery, which would be impossible to destroy in a first U.S. strike.
Tens of thousands of U.S. troops remain stationed in South Korea and in nearby Japan, the only country to have been attacked with nuclear weapons. Wednesday marked the 72nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city of Nagasaki by the United States.
Tensions in the region have risen since North Korea carried out two nuclear bomb tests last year and two ICBM tests last month. The U.N. Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday over its continued missile tests.
Japanese fighters conducted joint air drills with U.S. supersonic bombers in Japanese skies close to the Korean peninsula on Tuesday, Japan's Air Self Defence Force said.
On Monday, two U.S. B-1 bombers flew from Guam over the Korean Peninsula as part of its "continuous bomber presence", a U.S. official said, in a sign of the strategic importance Guam holds.
The alert status at Andersen Airforce Base on Guam had not been changed as of Wednesday morning, according to the duty officer at the base's public affairs office.
Republican U.S. Senator John McCain said Trump should tread cautiously when issuing threats to North Korea unless he is prepared to act.
"I take exception to the president’s comments because you've got to be sure you can do what you say you’re going to do," he said in a radio interview.
WAR OF WORDS
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that North Korea had successfully produced a miniaturised nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, according to a confidential U.S. intelligence assessment.
However, U.S. intelligence officials told Reuters that, while North Korea has accelerated its efforts to design an ICBM, a miniaturised nuclear warhead, and a nosecone robust enough to survive re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere, there is no reliable evidence that it has mastered all three, much less tested and combined them into a weapon capable of hitting targets in the United States.
North Korea's ICBM tests last month suggested it was making technical progress, Japan's annual Defence White Paper warned.
Former U.S. diplomat Douglas Paal, now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank in Washington, said Trump should not get into a war of words with Pyongyang.
"It strikes me as an amateurish reflection of a belief that we should give as we get rhetorically. That might be satisfying at one level, but it takes us down into the mud that we should let Pyongyang enjoy alone," said Paal, who served as a White House official under previous Republican administrations.
Reuters
Wed Aug 09 2017
Men walk past a street monitor showing news of North Korea firing a ballistic missile, in Tokyo, Japan, July 4, 2017. - REUTERS/Toru Hanai/Files
Kastam Pulau Pinang rampas rokok seludup bernilai RM7.92 juta
Kastam Pulau Pinang merampas sembilan juta batang rokok putih dianggarkan bernilai RM7.92 juta termasuk cukai.
Empat pemain Velez Sarsfield berdepan tuduhan serangan seksual
Empat pemain kelab bola sepak Argentina, Velez Sarsfield ditahan atas perintah mahkamah Argentina selepas dituduh melakukan serangan seksual pada Isnin.
Kes saman KJ terhadap Jamal Yunos diteruskan
Kes saman fitnah bekas Khairy Jamaluddin terhadap Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos, berhubung satu kenyataan media ketika PAU 2022 akan diteruskan di Mahkamah Tinggi pada Selasa.
Polis Terengganu pantau dakwaan ajaran Ayah Pin kembali
Ketua Polis Terengganu, Datuk Mazli Mazlan, menggesa orang ramai berhenti menyebarkan dakwaan ajaran Ayah Pin yang dianggap sesat, sambil memantau perkembangan di Kampung Batu 13, Besut.
Sembilan bakal haji kategori B40, dan 50 bakal haji kategori M40 telah buat bayaran penuh
Jelas Timbalan Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Hal Ehwal Agama), Senator Dr. Zulkifli Hasan kadar bantuan kewangan haji yang ditetapkan terhadap setiap jemaah haji adalah berdasarkan kategori pendapatan individu dan bukannya pendapatan isi rumah.
Kebakaran 9 kilang, 11 jam baru api padam sepenuhnya
Sembilan kilang musnah dalam kebakaran di Jalan Industri 5, Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh, Selangor.
Ringgit dibuka rendah berbanding dolar AS
Ringgit dibuka rendah berbanding dolar AS hari ini berikutan kekurangan minat belian.
DBKL serbu bazar warga asing di Selayang
Sejumlah 11 peralatan dan barang perniagaan dikendalikan warga asing disita dalam Tindakan Khas Bazar Warga Asing di sekitar Jalan 2/3A Pusat Bandar Utara, berhampiran Pasar Borong Kuala Lumpur, pada Isnin.
Seludup barang subsidi lebih aktif ketika Ramadan, Syawal
Kegiatan penyeludupan barangan bersubsidi dijangka akan lebih aktif ketika Ramadan dan Syawal berikutan permintaan yang lebih tinggi.
Insurans dan teknologi, usaha menangani cabaran iklim
Menurut Pengasas, Center of Excellence for High Value Crops,Yusof Ishak, kerajaan, agensi perlu meningkatkan akses kepada insurans pertanian yang lebih komprehensif serta menyediakan teknologi, infrastruktur yang diperlukan agar dapat melonjakkan produktiviti dan kelestarian pertanian negara.
'Demokrasi AS berakhir jika saya tewas pilihan raya' - Trump
Trump memberitahu penyokongnya jika beliau tidak memenangi pilihan raya, ia bermakna kemungkinan demokrasi AS akan berakhir.
Trump dijangka terima pencalonan Republikan selepas keputusan pemilihan pendahuluan
Donald Trump secara tidak rasmi memperoleh cukup sokongan perwakilan untuk menjadi calon presiden bagi Republikan dalam pilihan raya presiden AS.
Trump cabar Biden untuk berdebat
Donald Trump mencabar Presiden Joe Biden untuk berdebat dengannya "pada bila-bila masa" dan "di mana-mana sahaja."
Presiden Joe Biden harap genjatan senjata di Gaza sebelum 4 Mac
Presiden Amerika Syarikat Joe Biden berharap gencatan senjata dapat dilakukan dalam konflik antara Israel dan Hamas menjelang minggu depan.
Donald Trump diarah bayar denda AS$438 juta tahun ini atas kesalahan menipu, fitnah
Pada Jumaat Trump didenda AS$355 juta kerana tipu nilai hartanahnya, bulan lalu pula beliau didenda AS$83 juta sebagai pampasan kepada E Jean Carroll yang diserang secara seksual dan difitnah.
Perbicaraan kes jenayah pertama Donald Trump ditetapkan bermula bulan depan
Mahkamah tolak permohonan Trump untuk mengenepikan tuduhan jenayah berkaitan bayaran 'menutup mulut' kepada seorang bintang filem lucah.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Biden bidas kenyataan Trump, anggap ia sebagai memalukan AS
Kata Biden, kenyataan yang dibuat oleh Trump itu amat bahaya dan tidak mempamerkan imej 'warga AS' di mata NATO.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Amerika akan tarik diri dari NATO jika Trump menang pilihan raya
Trump hampir-hampir menyingkirkan AS daripada NATO pada sidang kemuncak pakatan itu pada 2018 di Brussels.