Updated
US President Donald Trump has issued another strong
warning to North Korea, declaring America's weapons are "locked and
loaded" to retaliate to a strike from Kim Jong-un.
Key points:
- Donald Trump says the US is ready if North Korea "acts unwisely"
- Guam Homeland Security issues emergency fact sheet titled in the event of an "imminent missile threat"
- North Korea says it will be ready within days to fire missiles over Japan
"Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong-un will find another path!," Mr Trump said on Twitter.
North Korea has announced a detailed plan to launch a salvo of ballistic missiles toward the US Pacific territory of Guam, a major military hub and home to US bombers.
If carried out, it would be its most provocative missile launch to date.
U.S. Pacific Command
✔ @PacificCommand
#USAF
B-1B Lancer #bombers
on Guam stand ready to fulfill USFK’s #FightTonight
mission if called upon to do so https://go.usa.gov/xRV8p
12:31 PM - Aug 11, 2017
Mr Trump has shown no signs of softening his rhetoric against North Korea, in response to the rogue regime's strong threats of military action.
Mr Trump previously said the US would unleash "fire and fury" on North Korea if it continued to threaten the US.
A spokesman for the Korean People's Army, in a statement carried by the North's state-run KCNA news agency, said the plan to strike Guam could be carried out "any moment" once leader Kim Jong-un made a decision.
North Korean state run news reported the North Korean army would be ready within days to fire four intermediate-range missiles over Japan to land near Guam.
The plans called for the missiles to land in the sea 30-40 kilometres from Guam.
Guam preparing for 'imminent' missile threat
Meanwhile the Pacific island's security agency issued a fact sheet on Friday (local time) with advice for residents to prepare for an "imminent missile threat".
"Do not look at the flash or fireball — it can blind you," the sheet instructs people who might be outside if the missiles arrive.
"If an attack warning is issued, take cover as quickly as you can, under concrete structure or below ground if possible," the sheet adds.
"Fallout radiation loses its intensity fairly rapidly. In time you will be able to leave a fallout shelter."The Government has instructed residents to be proactive and create emergency supply kits, a family emergency plan and a list of concrete shelters in their vicinity.
Visitors to the Homeland Security website are also directed to an American Red Cross guide on how to "shelter-in-place" during a chemical or radiation emergency.
Photo:
Mr Calvo says the fact sheet proves how prepared Guam is to handle any incident. (AP: Tassanee Vejpongsa)
Despite the Government's warnings the people of Guam still appear to be undeterred by the ongoing war of words as people continued to flock to the beaches.
"It's the weekend, go out and have a good time, enjoy the beaches tomorrow and live your lives," was the message from Guam Governor Eddie Baza Calvo during a 20-minute long public briefing with the Department of Homeland Security.
"We don't want to put fear on the people as well…but we have to understand the dangers that there are today."
At this stage there have been no official alerts issued by Guam's Office of Civil Defence.
World leaders call for restraint
The latest statement from Mr Trump comes within hours of China publicly clarifying the nation's position on any potential conflict and a day after US Defence Secretary James Mattis said the US was ready to counter any threat from Pyongyang.
China has warned North Korea that if it strikes the United states first it will remain neutral but it also urged the US not to "play with fire" as the war of words has intensified in recent days.
"The Korean Peninsula is where the strategic interests of all sides converge, and no side should try to be the absolute dominator of the region," it said in an editorial published in the Communist Party-run Global Times.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the two nations to come to a peaceful solution and called for China to do more.
"I don't see a military solution to this conflict," Chancellor Merkel told reporters in Berlin.
"I see the need for enduring work at the UN Security Council…as well as tight cooperation between the countries involved, especially the US and China."Germany will be intensively involved in any non-military solutions.
"But an escalation of the rhetoric is the wrong answer."
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, echoing Chancellor Merkel's sentiment, said "the rhetoric in Washington and Pyongyang is now starting to go over the top".
"We still hope and believe that common sense will prevail."
Wires/ABC
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