Just minutes into Sebastian Gorka’s appearance on Fox & Friends to discuss escalating nuclear tensions between Washington D.C. and Pyongyang, President Donald Trump issued his latest warning to North Korea via Twitter. 
 
 Following Trump’s comments warning North Korea against continuing their nuclear threats on Tuesday — and Pyongyang’s response — the U.S. president took to Twitter early Wednesday to boast about America’s powerful nuclear arsenal. 
 
 Asked about Trump’s warnings, Gorka said the president ” is saying don’t test America and don’t test Donald J. Trump.” 
 
 “We are not just a superpower,” Gorka continued. “We were a superpower. We are now a hyper-power. Nobody in the world, especially not North Korea, comes close to challenging our military capabilities.” 
 
 Gorka then reiterated the hardline on North Korea: “So the message is very clear, don’t test this White House, Pyongyang,” before claiming that the hermit kingdom is a “very insignificant threat in terms of scale.” 
 
 Despite escalating warnings coming from the White House, Gorka said the ball is in North Koreas court to “stand down the rhetoric.” 
 
 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged calm on North Korea hours before the president’s tweets on Monday morning, saying “Americans should sleep well at night,” and that there is no imminent threat from Pyongyang. 
 
 Later in the interview, Gorka was asked about comments from Democratic lawmakers, as well as Republicans like Sen. John McCain, condemning Trump’s “reckless” and “bombastic comments” as unhelpful. 
 
 As Fox anchor Brian Kilmeade phrased it, “you’re shaking your head — what’s your reaction to American lawmakers turning against the president’s words?” 
 
 Gorka responded by invoking White House grievances about leaks, before claiming that both leaks and “these kinds of statements” sadden him. 
 
 The White House staffer then made the argument that Americans need to throw their support behind Trump in this time of crisis: 
 
 “These are the moments when we have to come together as a nation and support the executive,” he said. “Whether you voted for him or not, whether they’re a Democrat or whether they’re a Republican, these are trying times.” 
 
 “During the Cuban missile crisis we stood behind JFK,” Gorka said, before making an alarming claim about the current state of affairs: “This is analogous to the Cuban missile crisis.” 
 
 “We need to come together,” he continued, before arguing that Americans should put the country over their political party. 
 
 [image via screengrab] 
 
 — 
 
 Follow Aidan McLaughlin (@aidnmclaughlin) on Twitter 
 
 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| Pyongyang says it will launch four missiles into waters ‘30-40km’ off US territory in Pacific Ocean 
 
 North Korea has defied threats of “fire and fury” from Donald Trump, deriding his warning as a “load of nonsense” and announcing a detailed plan to launch missiles aimed at the waters off the coast of the US Pacific territory of Guam. 
 
 'Will even white people die?' How to explain nuclear war to your kids | First Dog on the Moon Read more 
 
 A statement attributed to General Kim Rak Gyom, the head of the country’s strategic forces, declared: “Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him”. The general outlined a plan to carry out a demonstration launch of four intermediate-range missiles that would fly over Japan and then land in the sea around Guam, “enveloping” the island. 
 
 “The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA [Korean People’s Army] will cross the sky above Shimani, Hiroshima and Koichi prefectures of Japan,” the statement said. “They will fly for 3,356.7 km for 1,065 seconds and hit the waters 30 to 40km away from Guam.” 
 
 The statement said the plan for this show of force would be ready by the middle of this month and then await orders from the commander-in-chief, Kim Jong-un. 
 
 The statement was clearly designed as a show of bravado, calling the Trump administration’s bluff after the president’s threat and a statement from the defence secretary, James Mattis, both stressing the overwhelming power of the US military. “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met by fire and fury like the world has never seen,” Trump said on Wednesday. 
 
 The response from Pyongyang was its most public and detailed threat to date, and evidently meant to goad the US president. Trump had “let out a load of nonsense about ‘fire and fury’ failing to grasp the ongoing grave situation. This is extremely getting on the nerves of the infuriated Hwasong artillerymen of the KPA.” 
 
 The US has a naval base in Guam and the island is home to Andersen air base, which has six B-1B heavy bombers. According to NBC news the non-nuclear bombers have made 11 practice sorties since May in readiness for a potential strike on North Korea. The remote island is home to 162,000 people. 
 
 Q&A Why is North Korea threatening Guam? Show Hide Guam, a 210 sq mile sovereign US territory in the western Pacific Ocean, is used by America as a strategic military base. Almost a third of its land is controlled by the US military and about 6,000 American troops are based there. 
 
 The island's location, within range of North Korean medium- and long-range missiles, and military significance to the US make it a logical target for Pyongyang. 
 
 As recently as Monday, two US air force B-1B bombers flew from Guam to join their counterparts from South Korea and Japan for a mission over the Korean peninsula, about 2,100 miles away. Read more 
 
 
 
 South Korea’s military said on Thursday that North Korea’s statements were a challenge against Seoul and the US-South Korea alliance. Joint chiefs of staff spokesman Roh Jae-cheon told a media briefing that South Korea was prepared to act immediately against any North Korean provocation. 
 
 Japan’s chief government spokesman said the country could “never tolerate this”. “North Korea’s actions are obviously provocative to the region as well as to the security of the international community,” Yoshihide Suga said. 
 
 Play Video 0:43 North Koreans stage mass rally to denounce UN sanctions – video 
 
 The announcement on the North Korean state news service KCNA came at the end of two days of brinksmanship which began with the leak of a US intelligence report that Pyongyang had developed a nuclear warhead small enough to put on a missile. This was followed by Trump’s warning of “fire and fury”. On Wednesday the US defence secretary, James Mattis, said a North Korean attack would risk the “end of its regime and the destruction of its people”. 
 
 On Thursday, Trump’s deputy assistant, Sebastian Gorka, declined to tone down the rhetoric, warning Pyongyang: “Do not challenge the United States because you will pay a cost if you do so” 
 
 Asked if the threat of a strike, rather than an actual attack, would be enough to provoke a response, Gorka told the BBC: “If you threaten a nation, then what should you expect; a stiffly worded letter to be sent by courier? Is that what the UK would do if a nation threatened a nuclear-tipped missile launched against any of the UK’s territories?” 
 
 Damian Green, the UK’s first secretary of state, urged the Trump administration to use UN processes to resolve the crisis. “It’s obviously in all our interests to make sure that nothing escalates,” Green said on a visit to Edinburgh. “We are very strongly in support of the UN process, which has and continues to put pressure on North Korea to stop acting in an irresponsible way.” 
 
 In the event of a missile launch by North Korea, the US military faces the dilemma of trying to intercept the incoming missiles and risking humiliation if it fails. Trump would have to decide whether to try to carry out a pre-emptive strike on the Hwasong launchpads or a retaliation strike if the launch went ahead. The North Korean military has frequently tested missiles that land in the sea off the Japanese coast, without a military response from Tokyo. 
 
 
 
 “For the [North Koreans] to telegraph a move like this is extraordinary. But it’s probably their way of trying not to trigger a war,” said Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He said that if the launch went ahead as laid out in the statement, it gave US the opportunity to concentrate its ballistic defences in that area, to give them a better chance to shoot down the incoming missiles. 
 
 “The reason you can’t shoot down a test is that it doesn’t enter a defended area. But that wouldn’t be the case with ‘bracketing fire’,” Pollack said in a thread of tweets. He argued that the exchange of threats and the missile plans underlined the need to open a military hotline between the US and North Korea to mitigate the dangers of catastrophic miscalculation by either side. 
 
 
 
 “If they do carry out that plan, both sides might discover that they need a crisis management mechanism sooner than not,” Pollack said. 
 
 Q&A What are North Korea's nuclear capabilities? Show Hide North Korea has carried out five nuclear tests since 2006, so it unquestionably has the capacity to create some form of nuclear bomb. 
 
 To function effectively, however, the bomb needs to be small enough to fit on to a missile. Some experts believe the North has already "miniaturised" its nuclear capability, while others believe the regime is still several years away from being able to do so. Japan's defence ministry warned on 8 August that it was possible that Pyongyang had mastered miniaturisation. 
 
 North Korea would also need a reliable delivery system for any bomb. Its proven short- and medium-range missiles could reach South Korea and Japan. In July it test-launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles, placing US cities in range of potential attack, according to US experts. 
 
 Mattis’s reminder to Pyongyang that the allied militaries “possess the most precise, rehearsed and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on Earth” capped an unprecedented 24 hours of sabre-rattling sparked by Donald Trump’s surprise threat to rain “fire and fury” down on the Pyongyang regime. 
 
 Despite the harsh rhetoric, there was no change in US military deployments or alert status. Mattis couched his remarks in the language of traditional deterrence, making clear that such overwhelming force would be used in the event of a North Korean attack. 
 
 God save us from Donald Trump's fire and fury | Richard Wolffe Read more 
 
 Trump – without consulting his own security staff – had warned of a devastating onslaught “like the world has never seen” if Kim’s government persisted in threats against the US. But that line was crossed within hours when Pyongyang announced it was “carefully examining” a plan for a missile strike and “enveloping fire” around Guam. 
 
 The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, also spent much of Wednesday struggling to contain the fallout from Trump’s threats, assuring Americans they could “sleep well at night”, and reassuring shocked allies that there was “no imminent threat of war”. 
 
 • This article was amended on 10 August 2017 to correct a statement from Joshua Pollack. ||||| China’s president, Xi Jinping, has told Donald Trump in a phone call that all sides should avoid rhetoric or action that would worsen tensions on the Korean peninsula, according to Chinese state media. 
 
 Reports quoted Xi as saying: “At present, the relevant parties must maintain restraint and avoid words and deeds that would exacerbate the tension on the Korean peninsula.” 
 
 
 
 Trump has pushed China to pressure North Korea to halt a nuclear weapons programme that is nearing the capability of targeting the United States. China is the North’s biggest economic partner and source of aid. 
 
 Trump on Friday went further to turn the crisis into a personal battle of wills between him and Kim Jong-un, warning the North Korean leader he would “truly regret” hostile acts against US territory or US allies. 
 
 Donald Trump loyalists eager to back up his rhetoric on North Korea Read more 
 
 The warning came a few hours after an early morning tweet from the president that claimed US military options were “locked and loaded” for use if Pyongyang “acted unwisely”. 
 
 The tweet triggered worldwide alarm and a rebuke from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who said: “I consider an escalation of rhetoric the wrong answer.” 
 
 But Trump stood by his words when asked about them at his golf resort in New Jersey. “I hope they are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said, and what I said is what I mean,” he said. “Those words are very, very easy to understand.” 
 
 Trump then issued an ultimatum to Kim Jong-un himself. “This man will not get away with what he’s doing,” he said. “If he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat … or if he does anything in respect to Guam or anyplace else that’s an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast.” 
 
 Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, said on Twitter that Britain was working with the US and other countries in the region to end the diplomatic crisis. 
 
 He said the international community stood “shoulder to shoulder in ensuring North Korea stops its aggressive acts”, adding: 
 
 Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) The North Korean regime is the cause of this problem and they must fix it 
 
 The North Korean leadership has warned it will launch four missiles at the waters around US Pacific territory of Guam as a warning to the US if it persists with its practice sorties by long-range bombers based on the island. 
 
 Despite gung-ho language from the US president, there was no change in US deployments in the region or a change in the alert status of US forces. And it was reported on Friday that the Trump administration had reopened a channel of communication between US and North Korean diplomats at the UN. 
 
 According to the Associated Press, the “New York channel” had been broken off by North Korea in protest against sanctions in 2016, but it was revived this year between Joseph Yun, the US envoy for North Korea policy, and Pak Song-il, a senior North Korean diplomat at the country’s UN mission. 
 
 The US state department said it had no comment on the report. It had previously been reported that there had been diplomatic contacts about US detainees in North Korea, but the new AP account said the talks addressed wider issues, although such contacts had so far failed to moderate the exchange of threats between the leaders of the two countries. 
 
 Asked about the report on Friday, Trump said: “Well, we don’t want to talk about progress, we don’t want to talk about back channels. 
 
 “We want to talk about a country that has misbehaved for many many years – decades, actually – through numerous administrations, and they didn’t want to take on the issue and I had no choice but to take it on, and I’m taking it on. And we’ll either be very, very successful quickly or we’re going to be very, very successful in a different way, quickly.” 
 
 As for Merkel’s criticism earlier in the day, Trump said: “Maybe she’s speaking for Germany; let her speak for Germany. She’s a friend of mine, she’s a very good person, a very good woman, she’s a friend of Ivanka. Perhaps she is referring to Germany. She’s certainly not referring to the United States, that I can tell you.” 
 
 In his comments, Trump made it clear that domestic political considerations played a role in shaping his rhetoric. 
 
 “If somebody else uttered the exact same words that I uttered, they’d say: ‘What a great statement, what a wonderful statement,’” Trump said. “But I will tell you, we have tens of millions of people in this country that are so happy with what I am saying, because they say, ‘Finally, we have a president that’s sticking up for our nation and frankly, sticking up for our friends and our allies.’” 
 
 Speaking to reporters in California, the US defence secretary, James Mattis, said a conflict on the Korean peninsula would be “catastrophic” and stressed that US diplomats should take the lead in resolving the crisis. 
 
 Mattis pointed to a UN security council vote at the weekend for more sanctions against North Korea as a sign that diplomacy was making progress. 
 
 Quick guide Are US defences strong enough to ward off North Korean missiles? Show Hide What kind of anti-missile defences does the US possess? The US has various anti-missile options, some designed to take down missiles at short-range and others for medium-to-long-range. The US relies heavily on the US Patriot missile and the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD). The US deployed THAAD to South Korea this year to defend against medium-range missiles. There is a three-phased defence system: ground-based missiles on the Korean peninsula; US naval ships stationed in the Pacific; and two bases in Alaska and California that can launch an estimated 36 interceptors. 
 
 Is the US system robust enough to stop a North Korean missile attack? No air defence system offers anything like a complete guarantee of success. The Pentagon offer repeated assurances that air defence systems would be more than a match for any North Korean attack. But when missile defence systems have been put to the test over the last few decades, the performance has been far from reassuring. 
 
 The US provided anti-missile defence systems to Israel and Saudi Arabia during the First Gulf War as protection against Iraq's Scud missiles. It was initially claimed that they had shot down 41 of 42 missiles fired by Iraq. But eventually it was acknowledged that only a few missiles had been hit. 
 
 Recent tests of interceptors have provided little comfort – with success rates of around 50% on average. The Pentagon celebrated in May when it destroyed a mock warhead over the Pacific but overall the performance has been spotty. Since the newest intercept system was introduced in 2004 only four of nine intercept attempts have been successful. Of the five tests since 2010, only two have been successful. 
 
 However, Friday’s tweet, sent out by Trump at about 7.30am from his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, put the emphasis back on the use of force: 
 
 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Military solutions are now fully in place,locked and loaded,should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path! 
 
 A White House official later played down the significance of the tweet, saying there were continuously updated military contingency plans for any global crisis. “This isn’t anything new,” the official said, according to CNN. 
 
 The contingency plan for war on the Korean peninsula, Oplan 5027, envisages a build-up of the US military, including half the US navy and more than 1,000 aircraft in the region, over 90 days. More than 200,000 US civilians would also have to be evacuated. 
 
 Later on Friday morning, the president retweeted US Pacific command, which had posted pictures of B-1B Lancer heavy bombers on exercises over the Pacific with the Japanese and South Korean air forces on 7 August, accompanied by text saying the planes were ready to fulfil the “ready to fight tonight” mission of US forces in South Korea, “if called upon to do so”. 
 
 Trump’s messages continued a war of words between the president and North Korea that ignited on Tuesday when Trump, following reports of a breakthrough in Pyongyang’s weapons programme, threatened to unleash “fire and fury like the world has never seen” on North Korea if the regime continued to threaten the US. 
 
 Kim Jong-un’s government responded the next day by deriding Trump’s remarks as a “lot of nonsense” and publishing detailed plans to launch missiles to land in the waters around the US Pacific territory of Guam. 
 
 Pyongyang has warned that continued practice sorties by B-1B bombers over South Korea would trigger the launch of the four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missiles that would be aimed at the waters around their base on Guam. 
 
 “This grave situation requires the KPA [Korean People’s Army] to closely watch Guam, the outpost and beachhead for invading the DPRK, and necessarily take practical actions of significance to neutralise it,” a KPA spokesman said on the state news service. 
 
 It added that the missile launch, if ordered, would aim “to contain the US major military bases on Guam, including the Andersen air force base, in which the US strategic bombers, which get on the nerves of the DPRK and threaten and blackmail it through their frequent visits to the sky above South Korea, are stationed, and to send a serious warning signal to the US”. 
 
 The B-1 bombers have been modified so as to be non-nuclear capable, but the North Korean statement identifies them as “nuclear strategic bombers”, one of many examples of misperceptions and overheated rhetoric that fog the Korean standoff. 
 
 
 
 “The United States should think carefully about authorizing further B-1 flights. Leadership may decide to defy the North Korean threat, but should make that decision consciously and take measures to limit the risk of that action,” said Adam Mount, an expert on North Korea at the Center for American Progress. 
 
 The Guam authorities issued new emergency guidelines on Friday that included advice of what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. 
 
 “Do not look at the flash or fireball – it can blind you,” the fact sheet said. “Take cover behind anything that might offer protection.” 
 
 Asked about the potential for military confrontation, Mattis told reporters it was his responsibility to prepare “military options should they be needed”. 
 
 
 
 But he warned: “The tragedy of war is well enough known; it doesn’t need another characterisation, beyond the fact that it would be catastrophic.” 
 
 Alongside its missiles and nuclear warheads, North Korea has thousands of pieces of heavy artillery, capable of inflicting devastating damage on Seoul. 
 
 The US has about 35,000 troops stationed in South Korea and 40,000 in Japan. They have not been put on a higher alert or redeployed in recent days despite the heated rhetoric. 
 
 Malcolm Nance, a former naval intelligence officer, said that there had been none of the normal indicators of heightened alert at US bases in the region. 
 
 “We are not ready for even a small action size of Libya much less Korean War 2.0,” Nance said in a tweet. “This talk of Locked & Loaded is irresponsible madness.” 
 
 Donald Trump loyalists eager to back up his rhetoric on North Korea Read more 
 
 However, large-scale air, sea and land exercises are planned for later this month, which could ratchet tensions up further. 
 
 Trump was due to interrupt his working holiday for a lightning visit to Washington on Monday, according to one report. But it was not clear whether the trip was connected to the North Korean stand-off, and there are secure facilities at his Bedminster golf club where he can discuss national security matters. 
 
 The North Korean military has said its planned missile test aimed at the sea around Guam will be ready for launch on orders of the country’s leader from mid-August. 
 
 In his remarks, however, Mattis repeatedly underlined the role of diplomacy and non-military pressure on Pyongyang, and the key roles played by the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and the US envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley. 
 
 “You can see the American effort is diplomatically led,” Mattis said. He added: “It has diplomatic traction. It is gaining diplomatic results. And I want to stay right there right now.” ||||| Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Pacific island of Guam is home to the US Air Force's Andersen air base 
 
 North Korea has said it is considering carrying out missile strikes on the US Pacific territory of Guam. 
 
 The North's official news agency said on Tuesday the plan involved firing medium-to-long-range rockets at Guam, where US strategic bombers are based. 
 
 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, flying into Guam, said there was no imminent threat from North Korea. 
 
 He also defended President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday threatened Pyongyang with "fire and fury". 
 
 Mr Tillerson said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not understand diplomatic language, and a strong message was needed that he would understand. 
 
 "I think the president just wanted to be clear to the North Korean regime that the US... will defend itself and its allies," he said. 
 
 On Wednesday, Mr Trump tweeted that the US nuclear arsenal was "more powerful than ever before", but added he was hopeful "we will never have to use this power". 
 
 The recent exchanges mark a sharp rise in rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang, but China has urged calm. 
 
 A foreign ministry statement quoted by Reuters called on all sides to avoid words or actions which might escalate the situation and to make greater efforts to resolve the issue via talks. 
 
 The UN recently approved further economic sanctions on North Korea, which Pyongyang said were a "violent violation of our sovereignty", warning the US would "pay a price". 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption President Trump threatened a response 'like the world has never seen' 
 
 On Wednesday, the official KCNA news agency said North Korea was "carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam" using its domestically made medium-to-long-range Hwasong-12 missiles. 
 
 The news agency reported a military statement issued on Tuesday, which probably came in response to US military drills in Guam. 
 
 However, there has been no indication that any attack on Guam by North Korea is imminent. 
 
 In a message to the public, the governor of Guam Eddie Baza Calvo said there was currently "no threat" to the island and the Marianas archipelago, but that Guam was "prepared for any eventuality". 
 
 North Korea's statement is the latest stage in a heating up of rhetoric and tension. 
 
 Pyongyang, which has tested nuclear devices five times, launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in July, claiming it now had the ability to hit mainland US. 
 
 On Tuesday, media reports in the US claimed the North had achieved its goal of making a nuclear warhead small enough to fit inside its missiles. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption North Korea's second intercontinental missile launched last month was "seen from Japan" 
 
 While not confirmed, this was seen as one of the last obstacles to North Korea being a fully nuclear-armed state. 
 
 A report in the Washington Post, citing US intelligence officials, suggested North Korea was developing nuclear weapons capable of hitting the US at a much faster rate than expected. 
 
 A Japanese government defence white paper also said the weapons programme had "advanced considerably" and that North Korea possibly now had nuclear weapons. 
 
 North Korea's missile programme explained 
 
 In response, President Trump warned North Korea to stop threatening the US, saying they would be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen". 
 
 However, veteran US Senator John McCain was sceptical about Mr Trump's statement, saying he was "not sure that President Trump is ready to act". 
 
 'Scary' situation - BBC's Yogita Limaye in Seoul, South Korea 
 
 On the streets of Seoul, barely 50km (30 miles) from the border with North Korea, the latest developments have drawn mixed reactions. Kim Seong-su, 62, said he thought Pyongyang was bluffing to preserve its regime and justify its nuclear programme. 
 
 But others are more concerned. Yeon Eui-sook says she finds the situation scary. "I hope everyone can live in peace. Kim Jong-un keeps doing this and making us worry," she said. 
 
 Analysts say the language from Pyongyang always gets more aggressive in August, when the US and South Korea conduct joint military exercises. But this time - with a US president who also uses strong words - the confrontation is getting even fiercer than usual. 
 
 North Korea had reacted angrily after the fresh sanctions were announced on Saturday by the UN, in an attempt to pressure it into giving up its nuclear ambitions. 
 
 The sanctions aim to reduce North Korea's export revenues by a third. 
 
 KCNA said North Korea would retaliate and make "the US pay a price" for drafting the new measures. 
 
 It called the sanctions a "violent violation of our sovereignty", the news agency said. 
 
 Meanwhile on Wednesday the UK Foreign Office said it would "continue to work with the US and our international partners to maintain pressure on North Korea". 
 
 "We have been consistently clear and forthright in our condemnation of North Korea's destabilising and illegal behaviour, including through support for UN Security Council resolutions to bring in sanctions that will limit North Korea's ability to pursue its nuclear weapons programme," a spokesman said. 
 
 A spokesman for Germany's foreign ministry, quoted by AFP, said it was watching the situation "with the greatest concern" and called on all sides to use restraint. 
 
 The tiny but important island of Guam 
 
 The 541sq km (209 sq miles) volcanic and coral island in the Pacific between the Philippines and Hawaii. 
 
 It is a "non-incorporated" US territory, with a population of about 163,000. 
 
 That means people born in Guam are US citizens, have an elected governor and House Representative, but cannot vote for a president in US national elections. 
 
 US military bases cover about a quarter of the island. About 6,000 personnel are based there and there are plans to move in thousands more. 
 
 It was a key US base in World War Two, and remains a vital staging post for US operations, giving access to potential flashpoints like the South China Sea, the Koreas and the Taiwan Straits. 
 
 Guam profile from BBC Monitoring 
 
 Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning ||||| Hagatna, Guam (CNN) A North Korean plan to fire four missiles near the US Pacific territory of Guam will be ready for Kim Jong Un's consideration in days, state media has reported, as an unprecedented exchange of military threats between Washington and Pyongyang intensifies. 
 
 The intermediate-range missiles would be fired east and over Japan before landing around 30 to 40 kilometers (18 to 25 miles) off the coast of the tiny island if the plan is implemented, according to state-run KCNA. Guam is more than 3,000 kilometers from North Korea. 
 
 The plan is the latest provocation in a back-and-forth with Washington, which came to a boil on Tuesday when US President Donald Trump appeared to threaten nuclear war on the pariah state. 
 
 "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States," Trump said. "They will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before." 
 
 The North Korean threat has been on the Trump administration's foreign-policy agenda since the President took office in January, but it has taken center stage since Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month that it says are capable of hitting the US mainland. 
 
 North Korea responded to Trump's comments through a state media report, criticizing the US President for having "let out a load of nonsense about 'fire and fury,'" and accused him of "failing to grasp the on-going grave situation." 
 
 The report states that "sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him." 
 
 North Korea has also slammed US and UN sanctions placed on the country over its recent increase in missile testing, and has used those measures to justify its renewed aggressiveness. 
 
 White House streamlines messaging 
 
 The sudden escalation in tensions in the past week came after US intelligence analysts assessed that North Korea had produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead, according to multiple sources familiar with the analysis of North Korea's missile and nuclear program. 
 
 Such a development would mean North Korea is a step closer to having the capability of striking the US with a nuclear-tipped missile. 
 
 There is no indication that the Hwasong-12 missiles mentioned in the Guam plan would be tipped with nuclear warheads. 
 
 The White House was accused of sending mixed messages on its North Korea stance, with Trump's fiery comments juxtaposed with US State Secretary Rex Tillerson's more diplomatic approach, which focused on dialogue. 
 
 But those messages are beginning to converge. 
 
 Tillerson on Wednesday backed Trump's comment while trying to allay fears that a military confrontation was imminent. 
 
 JUST WATCHED What Trump has said about North Korea Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH What Trump has said about North Korea 02:05 
 
 And US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday also supported Trump's controversial remarks. 
 
 "The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people," Mattis said in a statement Wednesday, using an acronym for North Korea. 
 
 Trump's comments have been slammed as incendiary by his political opposition as well as some foreign powers, but have been supported by others. 
 
 Four rockets flying 1,065 seconds 
 
 The KCNA report includes detailed provisional plans to launch four rockets "above Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi Prefectures of Japan," and specified they would fly 3,356 kilometers (2,000 miles) for 1,065 seconds as a "crucial warning to the US." Following that flight path, the missiles would also have to travel over the Japanese prefecture of Ehime. 
 
 North Korea's estimated splashdown of the missiles would place them just outside Guam's 12-nautical-mile territorial waters, but well within its 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. 
 
 The Korean People's Army Strategic Force will present the final plan for the launch to Kim by mid-August and "wait for his order," the report said. 
 
 Should Kim give the go-ahead, it would not be the first time a North Korean rocket has crossed over Japanese territory. 
 
 Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said that his government "can never tolerate North Korea's provocations," and urged the rogue state to comply with UN resolutions regarding its missile and nuclear programs. 
 
 Likely to follow threat through? 
 
 A South Korean military official says that there have been no indications that Pyongyang is readying a strike. 
 
 "Currently, there is no unusual movement related to a direct provocation," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Roh Jae-cheon said in a press briefing. 
 
 Some analysts do not think that Kim will follow through on this very specific threat against the US territory. 
 
 North Korea is "trying to ratchet up the threat to create political pressure in the US and elsewhere to get talks," says Carl Schuster, a Hawaii Pacific University professor and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center. 
 
 "They've noticed that we've never sought conflict with an adversary who can hit our territory (and they) hope that this (threat) will force a more diplomatic line." 
 
 Meredith Sumpter, Asia director of the Eurasia Group and a long-time Asia analyst, says that despite the escalation in tensions, "we are no closer to actual military confrontation now then we were before. 
 
 "Kim Jong Un says a lot of things and he makes a lot of threats, but at the end of the day he knows that if he should undertake any kind of military strike against the US and its allies, the counter response will likely be the end of his regime," she told CNN. 
 
 Why Guam? 
 
 A state media report Wednesday gave first signs of a Guam strike plan and mentioned a potential strike on Andersen Air Force Base, designed "to send a serious warning signal to the US." 
 
 Why is North Korea threatening to attack Guam? The tiny Pacific island, the largest in the Marianas group, is home to two significant US military bases. 
 
 Bomber sorties flown above South Korea Tuesday originated from Guam's Andersen Air Force Base. 
 
 Around 5,000 US military personnel are based on the island, which is a US territory. 
 
 It is often referred to as the "tip of the spear" and home to the US' most westerly military installations. 
 
 Except US bases in Japan and South Korea, it's the closest US base to North Korea. 
 
 The base is one of two on the Pacific island, which are the closest bases on US soil to North Korea. The US has flown bombers from Guam over the Korean peninsula in military drills with Japan and South Korea. 
 
 Dubbed the "tip of the spear," Guam is a key part of the US presence in the Pacific and is home to thousands of American service members and their families. 
 
 As part of its defenses on Guam, the US installed a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in 2013. The THAAD system is specifically designed to shoot down ballistic missiles. 
 
 Also, the US routinely uses Aegis-equipped warships around the island chain of the Marianas, of which Guam is the largest. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption It's not the first time North Korea has made threats against Guam 
 
 North Korea says a plan that could see it fire four missiles near the US territory of Guam will be ready in a matter of days. 
 
 State media said Hwasong-12 rockets would pass over Japan and land in the sea about 30km (17 miles) from Guam, if the plan was approved by Kim Jong-un. 
 
 It denounced Donald Trump's warnings of "fire and fury" and said the US leader was "bereft of reason". 
 
 The US has warned the North its actions could mean the "end of its regime". 
 
 US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Pyongyang would be "grossly overmatched" in any war against the US and its allies. 
 
 The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, who is in Guam, says there is a sense that the North Korean threat is rhetorical, as most people feel that if they really did strike with missiles it would be suicidal for the North Korean regime. 
 
 Separately, the European Union said it was freezing the assets of nine more people and four more entities, including North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank, in line with fresh sanctions approved by the UN Security Council on Saturday. 
 
 What is the North planning? 
 
 The North first announced on Wednesday that it had been drawing up plans for a missile strike against Guam, a Pacific island which is home to US military bases, strategic bombers and about 163,000 people. 
 
 A later statement carried by state media said the military would "finally complete the plan" by mid-August and send it to leader Kim Jong-un for his approval. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Robin Brant asks those in the South Korean capital, Seoul: "Are you scared?" 
 
 "The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA [Korean People's Army] will cross the sky above Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi [Kochi] Prefectures of Japan," state news agency KCNA said, quoting army chief General Kim Rak Gyom. 
 
 "They will fly 3,356.7km for 1,065 seconds and hit the waters 30-40km away from Guam." 
 
 The Hwasong missiles are North Korea's domestically produced medium and long-range weapons. 
 
 What has been the reaction in the region? 
 
 The governor of Guam addressed the North's new statement on Thursday, telling Reuters news agency that North Korea usually likes to be unpredictable and has fired surprise missiles in the past. 
 
 "They're now telegraphing their punch, which means they don't want to have any misunderstandings. I think that's a position of fear," said Governor Eddie Calvo. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption North Koreans rally to denounce 'gangster' US 
 
 Meanwhile Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Pyongyang's actions were "provocative to the region including Japan as well as to the security of the international community". 
 
 "We can never tolerate this," he added. 
 
 Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told MPs Japan could legally intercept a North Korean missile headed for Guam because such a move would threaten Japan's existence as a nation. 
 
 Recent legislation also allows Japan to defend the US and other allies from attack. Previously Japan's position was only to shoot down missiles headed for its own territory. 
 
 South Korea's military said it was prepared for swift action. 
 
 "If North Korea conducts provocation in defiance of our military's grave warning, it will confront the strong and firm response of our military and the US-South Korea alliance," Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Roh Jae-cheon said. 
 
 The foreign ministry in Seoul, meanwhile, urged Pyongyang to respond to its recent offer of new dialogue. 
 
 China has urged calm, describing the situation as "complex and sensitive". 
 
 What have the two sides been saying? 
 
 North Korean state media said President Trump's remarks on Tuesday that the North risked "fire and fury" for threatening the US were "a load of nonsense". 
 
 "Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him," it added. 
 
 Amid escalating rhetoric, Mr Mattis issued a strongly worded statement on Wednesday calling on Pyongyang to halt its arms programme. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Trump will use "any appropriate measures" - adviser Sebastian Gorka 
 
 "While our state department is making every effort to resolve this global threat through diplomatic means, it must be noted that the combined allied militaries now possess the most precise, rehearsed and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on Earth," he said. 
 
 Mr Trump, who is holidaying in New Jersey, boasted about America's atomic arsenal earlier on Wednesday. 
 
 The tiny but important island of Guam 
 
 The 541sq km (209 sq miles) volcanic and coral island in the Pacific between the Philippines and Hawaii. 
 
 It is a "non-incorporated" US territory, with a population of about 163,000. 
 
 That means people born in Guam are US citizens, have an elected governor and House Representative, but cannot vote for a president in US national elections. 
 
 US military bases cover about a quarter of the island. About 6,000 personnel are based there and there are plans to move in thousands more. 
 
 It was a key US base in World War Two, and remains a vital staging post for US operations, giving access to potential flashpoints like the South China Sea, the Koreas and the Taiwan Straits. 
 
 Should we be worried? 
 
 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has sought to reassure Americans that North Korea does not pose an imminent threat. 
 
 On Wednesday, he said the situation had not dramatically changed over the past few days, and that Americans "should sleep well at night". 
 
 South Korea's military says it has not seen any unusual action in the North that might indicate a provocation. 
 
 Despite rounds of UN sanctions, Pyongyang carried out two nuclear tests last year and two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July. 
 
 Various reports recently have suggested the North has now achieved its goal of making a nuclear warhead small enough to fit inside its missiles. 
 
 But this remains unconfirmed, and most analysts doubt the country would launch a pre-emptive attack on the US.
– President Trump doesn't appear to be heeding calls to end his rhetoric in regard to North Korea. In a pair of tweets, he boasted about America's nuclear prowess. "My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal," he tweeted. "It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before." He then added, "Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!" Earlier, in response to North Korea's threat to strike Guam, Trump retweeted a Fox News story about US Air Force jets taking off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam for a training mission, with a caption noting pilots could be ready to "fight tonight," notes the Wall Street Journal. Related: Ad-lib? The New York Times reports that Trump's "fire and fury" line from Tuesday was improvised. The newspaper says the president did not run the language by advisers in advance, including chief of staff John Kelly. A piece of paper Trump had in front of him was reportedly a fact sheet on the opioid crisis. Politico reporter Josh Dawsey's sources tell him the words were not "carefully vetted," adding, "Don't read too much into it." Mattis weighs in: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may have had a more calming tone on the subject Wednesday, but defense chief James Mattis followed up with some tough language. Among other things, he warned in an afternoon statement that North Korea should "cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people," per CNN. American nukes: Trump's tweets on the US arsenal were apparently in reference to a review of nuclear weapons that was ordered on Jan. 27 but isn't expected to be completed until year's end, reports the Washington Post. Such reviews are required by Congress about every eight years. After the last one in 2010, Barack Obama announced a $1 trillion plan to upgrade the nuclear arsenal over 30 years. Given all that, fact-checkers are pushing back on Trump's boast that he beefed up the arsenal, and that's putting it mildly. JFK comparison: “These are the moments when we have to come together as a nation and support the executive,” White House aide Sebastian Gorka said on Fox News, per Mediaite. “Whether you voted for him or not, whether they’re a Democrat or whether they’re a Republican, these are trying times. … During the Cuban missile crisis we stood behind JFK. This is analogous to the Cuban missile crisis.” Seeking ambassador: No ambassador to South Korea is in place yet under the new administration, and BuzzFeed reports that the absence of one is especially troubling now.