Tension as North Korea threatens missile strike on US Pacific territory of Guam

In retaliation to Donald Trump’s warning of “fire and fury like the world has never seen,” should North Korea continued to threaten the US, the secretive country in an announcement on Wednesday said it is "carefully examining" a plan to strike the US Pacific territory of Guam with missiles. 

A spokesman for the Korean People's Army, in a statement carried by the country's state-run KCNA news agency, said the strike plan will be "put into practice in a multi-current and consecutive way any moment" once leader Kim Jong-un makes a decision.

In another statement citing a different military spokesman, North Korea also said it could carry out a pre-emptive operation if the US showed signs of provocation.

The plan involves creating an “enveloping fire” around Guam — home to to about 163,000 people and a number of US strategic military installations, that includes a submarine squadron, an airbase and a Coast Guard group — by deploying medium-to-long range ballistic missiles.

Earlier on, Pyongyang said it was ready to give Washington a "severe lesson" accusing the US of devising a "preventive war" and said that any plans to execute this would be met with an "all-out war wiping out all the strongholds of enemies, including the US mainland".

But on Tuesday, US president, Donald Trump threatened North Korea "with fire and fury like the world has never seen" after reports suggested the communist country has mastered one of the final hurdles to being able to strike the US with a nuclear missile.

North Korea had best not make any more threats to the United States," said a stern-looking Trump, seated with his arms crossed and with his wife beside him, at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.

They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen, he added.

Washington has warned it is ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programs but that it prefers global diplomatic action, including sanctions.

According to a report, the consequences of any US strike on North Korea would potentially be catastrophic not only for North Koreans but also South Korea, Japan and the thousands of US military personnel within range of any North Korean retaliatory strikes.

Guam is just over 2,000 miles from North Korea

Guam Governor Eddie Calvo dismissed the North's threat and said the island was prepared for "any eventuality" with strategically placed defences.

He said he had been in touch with the White House and there was no change in the threat level.

Guam is American soil ... We are not just a military installation, Calvo said in an online video message.

North Korea made a similar threat a few years ago but never carried out the threat.