Pyongyang still defiant after Trump’s warning
Rogue state warns it means to have a plan ready by mid-august to launch rockets into sea near Guam
North Korea again raised the stakes last night in its stand-off with President Donald Trump, declaring that it will have formulated a plan by “mid-august” to launch four missiles into waters near the US territory of Guam. Earlier, Mr Trump had warned Pyongyang that America’s nuclear arsenal is “far stronger and more powerful than ever before”. Critics accused the president of inflaming the situation with “reckless” sabre-rattling but the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sought to play down the threat of war, telling Americans that they should “sleep well”.
NORTH KOREA has declared it will have a plan ready by “mid-august” to launch four missiles into waters near the US territory of Guam.
The rogue state also ridiculed US President Donald Trump as a “guy bereft of reason” and said only “absolute force can work on him”.
A statement from North Korean General Kim Rak Gyom said Mr Trump’s warnings were a “load of nonsense”. It said North Korea would produce a plan to fire four Hwasong-12 rockets more then 2,000 miles over Japan to “hit the waters 30 to 40 kilometres away from Guam”.
The plan would be presented to leader Kim Jong-un who would make a decision on whether to proceed. The general’s statement added: “We will keep closely watching the speech and behaviour of the US.”
North Korea also mocked Mr Trump for being “at a golf links again” and
‘There will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world’
‘What the president is doing is sending a strong message to North Korea in language Kim Jong-un understands’
suggested he was “failing to grasp the on-going grave situation”.
The new provocation from Pyongyang comes after Mr Trump warned that the US nuclear arsenal is “far stronger and more powerful than ever before”, while his top diplomat sought to play down the threat of war, telling Americans they should “sleep well”.
As tensions escalated, critics accused Mr Trump of inflaming the situation with “reckless” sabre-rattling.
Writing on Twitter, he said: “My first order as President was to renovate and modernise our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before. 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!”
James Mattis, the defence secretary, said North Korea would be “grossly unmatched” in any conflict, and called on it to “cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and its destruction of its people”.
A White House official added: “We are not just a superpower. We are now a hyperpower. The message is very clear – don’t test this White House, Pyongyang. Don’t test Donald Trump.” The US military also released pictures of two of its B-1B bombers flying over the Korean Peninsula on Monday. Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s President, telephoned Mr Trump asking for support in doubling the existing 500kg payload of ballistic missiles it would use in any conflict with its neighbour. The situation began to escalate on Tuesday after it emerged North Korea had successfully miniaturised nuclear warheads to fit inside intercontinental ballistic missiles. Mr Trump then said it would face “fire and fury” if it further threatened the US. Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said the “tone” of Mr Trump’s remark was discussed beforehand with advisers including chief of staff John Kelly and national security experts. But she added: “The words were his own.” North Korea responded by saying it was “examining” plans to attack Guam. The Pacific island, 2,100 miles south of North Korea, with a population of 162,000, is home to 6,000 US service personnel and is known as America’s “permanent aircraft carrier”.
The North’s statement, citing General Kim, commander of the Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said: “The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA will cross the sky above Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi prefectures of Japan...they will fly 3,356.7km for 1,065 seconds and hit the waters 30-40km away from Guam.”
Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, on a scheduled trip to Guam, sought to play down concerns, saying there was “no imminent threat”.
He said: “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. Americans should sleep well at night.”
Eddie Baza Calvo, the governor of Guam, said: “I An attack or threat to Guam is a threat or attack on the United States. They have said that America will be defended.”
In Seoul, Ji Sang-in, 24, a nurse, said: “Kim Jong-un has always been words. He says something crazy that he’s going to do but he’s never done anything. I’m scared that Trump might push him to start a war.”
Robert Jeffress, the pastor who preached for Mr Trump at his inauguration, said: “God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong-un.”
Meanwhile, in an apparently unconnected move, North Korea released Hyeon Soo Lim, a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence, on humanitarian grounds. He was accused of attempting to overthrow the regime.