The rhetoric from North Korea – which has threatened the United States with nuclear war and rehearsed drone attacks on South Korea – and Washington’s hardening reaction, drew more concern from China, Pyongyang’s only major ally, which said the situation was “sensitive”.
Pyongyang says United Nations sanctions, agreed after North Korea carried out a third nuclear test in February, are part of a Washington-led plot to topple its leadership.
“From this moment, the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army will be putting into combat duty posture No. 1 all field artillery units, including long-range artillery units and strategic rocket units, that will target all enemy objects in U.S. invasionary bases on its mainland, Hawaii and Guam,” the North’s KCNA news agency said.
The order was issued in a statement from the North Korea’s military “supreme command.”
The Pentagon condemned North Korea’s rhetoric, saying it was designed to “raise tensions and intimidate others.”
“They need to stop threatening peace on the peninsula. That doesn’t help anyone … and we stand ready to respond to any contingency,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.
The Pentagon has declined to define the range of North Korea’s rockets, saying it is classified. But Admiral James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged on March 15 that one type of North Korean missile likely had the range to reach the United States.
South Korea’s defense ministry said it saw no sign of imminent military action by North Korea and most military analysts say Pyongyang will not risk a conflict with the United States that it would lose.