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With tensions rising around the Korean Peninsula because of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, Pyongyang and Washington exchanged a volley of incendiary language on Aug. 9, suggesting that they could launch a military strike at each other. Amid rumors of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula in August, US President Donald Trump openly warned that North Korea “will be met with fire and fury,” while North Korea pledged to launch a missile attack on Guam. The intensifying showdown is further increasing uncertainty on the Korean Peninsula.

“In order to overpower and suppress Andersen Air Force Base and other major military facilities on Guam and to send a grave warning message to the US, we are seriously considering the operational plan of carrying out an enveloping strike around Guam using our Hwasung-12 intermediate-range strategic ballistic rockets,” said a statement released on Aug. 9 by the spokesperson of the Korean People's Army (KPA) Strategic Force. “After the plan for an enveloping strike at Guam has been adequately prepared and reviewed, it will be immediately submitted to the supreme command. Pending the decision of our comrade Kim Jong-un, the plan will be carried out simultaneously and repeatedly, at a time of our choosing.” The Strategic Force is the unit that operates North Korea’s ballistic missiles. The day before, on Aug. 8, the US had two B-1B Lancers – long-range strategic bombers dubbed the “swan of death” – fly over the Korean Peninsula.

In a separate statement by the KPA’s General Staff Department, North Korea also declared its willingness to engage in “all-out war” with the US. “As soon as we see that the US intends to carry out a preemptive strike, we will turn not only Seoul but the entire areas of the South Korean 1st and 3rd Field Armies into a sea of fire. Along with simultaneous strikes throughout South Korea, we will continue to launch strikes to overpower the launch bases of the American imperialist invasion forces throughout the entire Pacific theater of operations,” the statement said.

North Korea’s threatening remarks came a few hours after Trump told reporters at the Bedminster Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey on Aug. 8 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.”

Trump then doubled down by saying that Kim Jong-un “has been very threatening beyond a normal state. They will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before." The remarks were the harshest warning to North Korea that he has made since his inauguration. While he had previously only made remarks that suggested the possibility of military action, such as stating that “all options are on the table,” this time he specifically mentioned a powerful strike on North Korea.

Trump’s remarks are presumably a response to a report by the Washington Post quoting a conclusion by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which reports to the Pentagon, that North Korea has successfully developed a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can be loaded on an ICBM capable of hitting the US mainland.

Trump’s incendiary rhetoric should not be taken to mean that the US will be attacking North Korea soon or at all. It would not be easy for the American president to decide to engage in military action on his own. But the repeated leaks of US government reports assessing the North Korean threat and the increasing tension inside the US do seem to send a troubling signal. With South Korea and the US gearing up for their Ulchi-Freedom Guardian joint exercises from Aug. 21 to 23, Trump’s strident remarks aggravate North Korea’s sense of being in danger and increase the likelihood of an unplanned clash resulting from miscalculations on both sides.

“Considering that North Korea cannot launch a preemptive strike on the US and that the US cannot respond to the North using military force, the two sides’ harsh rhetoric is probably also aimed at public opinion at home. This is a time when we need to be working with our neighbors, including China and Russia, to make thoughtful diplomatic efforts to ensure that this over-the-top conflict of words does not lead to action,” said Cho Seong-ryeol, chief of research for the Institute for National Security Strategy.

“It’s imperative that we acquire military power capable of winning a modern war so that we can counter the growing sophistication of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles,” said President Moon Jae-in during a meeting at the Blue House on the morning of Aug. 9 with South Korea’s newly appointed military leaders.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent, Jung In-hwan and Jung Yu-gyung, staff reporter

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