North Korea on Wednesday threatened to launch an attack around Guam, where American forces are stationed, following tough talk from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Pyongyang is reviewing a plan for "making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam" using its Hwasong-12 medium to long-range strategic ballistic rocket, according to a statement carried by North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency.
The Pacific island of Guam is home to powerful American military hardware, including strategic bombers that took part in a drill over the Korean Peninsula as recently as Tuesday.
Trump told reporters gathered at his New Jersey golf course Tuesday that "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen".
The dispatch Wednesday from North Korea demanded the U.S. immediately cease provocations or Pyongyang would be "forced to make an unavoidable military choice".
The reclusive state has been bristling over strengthened UN Security Council sanctions adopted last weekend in response to a pair of North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July. Pyongyang has repeatedly made clear that the U.S. is a target for its development of long-range nuclear weapons.