North Korea considers missile attack on Guam, after Trump vows ‘fire and fury’ over nuke report

North Korea said on Wednesday it is considering plans for a missile strike on the US Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after US President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with “fire and fury”.

Pyongyang said it was “carefully examining” a plan to strike Guam, an island of around 162,000 in the western Pacific and the site of a US military base that hosts a submarine squadron, an airbase and a Coast Guard group.

The sharp ratcheting-up of tensions came after the revelation that US intelligence concluded North Korea had successfully developed technology to fire nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles. That prompted Trump’s “fire and fury vow”.

Analysts said the development would likely lead to enhanced joint military operations by the US and its allies in the region.

The Washington Post on Tuesday cited a confidential assessment by the US Defence Intelligence Agency that says North Korea crossed “a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power” with its ability to make miniaturised nuclear warheads. The new assessment follows a separate US government report estimating that Pyongyang possesses up to 60 nuclear weapons.

“The IC [intelligence community] assesses North Korea has produced nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery, to include delivery by ICBM-class missiles,” the DIA report said, according to the Washington Post.