Kim Jong-un: Missile test was for Guam, Trump warns all options open

Seoul:

North Korea said on Wednesday it had conducted a test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) to counter US and South Korean military drills and as a first step in military action in the Pacific to “contain” the US territory of Guam.

The North’s leader Kim Jong Un ordered the missile drill to be conducted for the first time from its capital, Pyongyang, and said it was necessary to undertake more exercises with the Pacific as the target, the North’s KCNA news agency said.

Earlier this month, North Korea threatened to fire four missiles into the sea near Guam, home to a major military presence, after US President Donald Trump said the North would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States.

North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under Kim in defiance of UN sanctions, but firing a projectile over mainland Japan was a rare and provocative move.

Trump, who has vowed not to let North Korea develop nuclear missiles that can hit the mainland United States, said the world had received North Korea’s latest message “loud and clear”.

“Threatening and destabilising actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday.