SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea said Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un was briefed on his military’s plans to launch missiles into waters near Guam as part of an effort to create “enveloping fire” near the U.S. military hub in the Pacific.
The comments, while typically belligerent, are significant because they appeared to signal a path to defuse a deepening crisis with Washington over a weapons program that is seen as having the ability to be able to send a nuclear missile to the U.S. mainland.
During an inspection of the army’s Strategic Forces, Kim praised the military for drawing up a “close and careful plan” and said he would watch the “foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees” a little more before deciding whether to give an order for the missile test, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim said North Korea will conduct the planned missile launches if the “Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity” and that the United States should “think reasonably and judge property” to avoid shame, the news agency said.
Lobbing missiles toward Guam would be a deeply provocative act from the U.S. perspective. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the United Sates would take out any such missile seen to be heading for American soil and declared any such North Korean attack could lead to war.