Thread: South Korea Warns North Korea Against Launching Missile at Guam

South Korea Warns North Korea Against Launching Missile at Guam

By Isabel Reynolds
and Hooyeon Kim
August 9, 2017, 7:37 PM PDT

• Plan for missiles to be fired over Japan by mid-August: KCNA
• North Korea statement comes in response to Trump’s remarks

Aerial view of the US Naval Base in Guam.
Photographer: Jeffrey Landi/US Naval Base Guam via EPA

South Korea’s military warned North Korea that it would face a strong response if it carried through with a threat to launch a missile toward the U.S. territory of Guam.

North Korea’s threats to strike around Guam and turn Seoul into a “sea of fire” pose a serious challenge, a spokesman at South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters on Thursday. South Korea’s military is fully prepared for any action by North Korea, he said.

“We give a strict warning,” the spokesman said. “If North Korea commits provocations despite our stern warning, it will face a strong response from South Korea’s military and the U.S.-South Korea alliance.”

North Korea responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning to unleash "fire and fury" by outlining a detailed plan to fire four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Guam by mid-August. They would fly over southwestern Japan and land as close as 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Guam, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

‘Bereft of Reason’

“Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him,” KCNA reported, citing a statement in response to Trump by a general of the Korean People’s Army. “The military action the KPA is about to take will be an effective remedy for restraining the frantic moves of the U.S. in the southern part of the Korean peninsula and its vicinity.”

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sought to calm tensions after Trump’s remarks, saying “Americans should sleep well at night.”

Later, Defense Secretary James Mattis warned North Korea in a statement it would lose any conflict it initiates.

South Korea’s government plans to hold a national security meeting later on Thursday to discuss North Korea’s missile threat.

North Korea first fired a missile over Japan in 1998, prompting the Japanese government to to initiate its current ballistic missile-defense system with the U.S. While a second attempt failed in 2005, North Korea again succeeded in firing one in 2009 that flew over northern Japan and continued for another 3,000 kilometers before landing in the Pacific.

More recently, North Korean missiles have landed in the Sea of Japan, with some falling in Japan’s exclusive economic zone that stretches 200 kilometers from its shores.

Japan has a two-layered ballistic missile defense system, consisting of ship-based SM-3 missiles, and land-based Patriot interceptors. It is also looking into the possibility of adding a third missile defense element.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...issile-at-guam

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