SEOUL: North Korea said on Wednesday it is "carefully examining" plans for a missile strike on the US Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after US President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury".
North Korea has made no secret of plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to strike the United States and has ignored international calls to halt its nuclear and missile programs.
The strike plan would be put into practice at any moment once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision, a spokesman for the Korean People's Army (KPA) said in a statement carried by the North's state-run KCNA news agency.
"The KPA Strategic Force is now carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 in order to contain the US major military bases on Guam including the Anderson Air Force Base," the spokesman said.
The plan would be reported to the North's Supreme Command soon, the spokesman said, without citing a date.
On Monday, two US B-1 bombers flew from Guam over the Korean Peninsula as a part of its "continuous bomber presence," a US official said, in a sign of the strategic importance Guam holds.
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 US mainland."
The United States should stop its "reckless military provocation" against North Korea to avoid any military action, the army spokesman said.
The UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday over its continued missile tests.
Trump ratcheted up the rhetoric against North Korea on Tuesday, saying Pyongyang should not make any more threats against the United States in a meeting with reporters at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Guam Governor Eddie Calvo downplayed North Korea´s threat to attack his Pacific island state but said the US territory was "prepared for any eventuality" in a televised speech Wednesday as tensions escalate in the region.
Calvo said Guam was working with Washington "to ensure our safety."
"I want to reassure the people of Guam that currently there is no threat to our island or the (neighbouring Northern) Marianas," he said.
"I spoke to Joint Region Marianas Commander Rear Admiral Shoshana Chatfield who confirmed this with me."
Guam, home to about 6,000 US troops, is strategically located midway between the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea and houses two US military installations -- the Andersen Air Force Base and the Naval Base Guam.
It was described by President Barack Obama´s defense secretary Ashton Carter as "an important strategic hub for the US military in the Western Pacific".
Calvo said there were "several levels of defense" strategically placed to protect Guam and he had been assured by the White House that a strike on the territory would be considered an attack on the United States.
"They have said that America will be defended. 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.
"With that said, I want to ensure that we are prepared for any eventuality."
On the streets of Guam capital Hagatna, there was a sense of calm.
"It´s not like there´s anything we can do anyway. This is a small island. There´s nowhere to run to," resident James Cruz said AFP.
Madeleine Bordallo, Guam´s delegate to Congress, said North Korea´s nuclear capabilities were "deeply troubling," but she was confident the island was safe and protected.
Guam´s local population numbers 162,000 and its economy depends primarily on tourism and the US military.