Now president warns Kim: Our military is locked and loaded

PRESIDENT Trump said yesterday that the US military is ‘locked and loaded’ as he warned North Korea against threatening America.

Escalating the exchange of threats between the nuclear-armed nations Mr Trump tweeted: ‘Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong-un will find another path!’

US and South Korean officials said they would move forward with large-scale military exercises later this month that North Korea claims are a rehearsal for war.

The exercises are an annual event but come as Pyongyang says it is readying a plan to fire four missiles that would land near Guam, a US island territory and military hub in the Western Pacific.

The plan would be sent to leader Kim Jong-un for approval just before or as the US-South Korea drills begin. Despite the angry rhetoric from both sides there was no observable march toward combat yesterday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, responding to Mr Trump’s tweet, declined to say if Germany would stand with the US in a military conflict with North Korea. She said: ‘I don’t see a military solution and I don’t think it’s called for.’

Mrs Merkel called on the UN Security Council to continue to address the issue. She added: ‘I think escalating the rhetoric is the wrong answer.’

The US- South Korea exercises are expected to run from August 21-31 and involve around 40,000 troops on the ground and in the sea and air.

Washington and Seoul say the exercises are defensive and crucial to maintaining a deterrent against North Korean aggression. They were scheduled well before tensions began to rise over Mr Trump’s increasingly fiery rhetoric and North Korea’s announcement of the Guam missile plan. Tensions have been building for months but the pace has intensified since the UN Security Council on Saturday passed sweeping new sanctions against North Korea requested by Mr Trump.

On Thursday Mr Trump suggested his earlier threat to unleash ‘fire and fury’ on North Korea was too mild.

The heightened military activity on the Korean peninsula is a concern because it could increase the possibility of a mishap or an overreaction of some sort by either side that could spin into a more serious escalation.

Pyongyang is also switching its propaganda machine into high gear by bringing in a large number of foreign journalists to ensure it gets global attention for an event next week in honour of its ruling Kim family on Mount Paektu.

The dormant volcano straddles the Chinese border and is something of a spiritual home for the regime.