What next for North Korea, Guam and Trump? Experts weigh in

FILE - This combination of photos show North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on April 15, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on April 29, 2017. Threatening language between the U.S. and North Korea is flaring. After Trump vowed to respond with “fire and fury” if Pyongyang continued to threaten the U.S., the North’s military said it is finalizing a plan to fire four midrange missiles to hit waters near the strategic U.S. territory of Guam. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Files) FILE - This combination of photos show North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on April 15, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on April 29, 2017. Threatening language between the U.S. and North Korea is flaring. After Trump vowed to respond with “fire and fury” if Pyongyang continued to threaten the U.S., the North’s military said it is finalizing a plan to fire four midrange missiles to hit waters near the strategic U.S. territory of Guam. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Files)

By Associated Press August 9, 2017 5 min read

SAN JOSE, California (AP) – Threatening language between the U.S. and North Korea is flaring this week. After President Donald Trump vowed to respond with “fire and fury” if Pyongyang continued to threaten the U.S., the North’s military said it is finalizing a plan to fire four midrange missiles to hit waters near the strategic U.S. territory of Guam.

Below, North Korea experts reached Wednesday in the U.S. discuss the gravity of the moment and where both countries, and the world, could go from here:

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CLOSER TO THE BRINK, TALKS ESSENTIAL

Srinivasan Sitaraman, political scientist at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts: