North Korea is "carefully examining" a plan to strike the US -owned Pacific island of Guam with missiles, according to reports.
The threat came hours after President Donald Trump told Pyongyang that any threat to the USA would be met with "fire and fury".
A spokesman for the Korean People's Army said the strike plan would be "put into practice in a multi-current and consecutive way any moment" once leader Kim Jong Un made a decision.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has warned of an "effective and overwhelming" response against North Korea if it chose to use nuclear weapons but has said any military solution would be "tragic on an unbelievable scale".
Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Logan said military action is never off the table regarding North Korea.
United States spy satellites have detected the North Korean military loading two anti-ship cruise missiles onto a boat on the east side of the country, according to a new report.
Seoul is home to a population of roughly 10 million, within range of massed pre-targeted North Korean rockets and artillery, which would be impossible to destroy in a first USA strike.
The bottom line is that its nearly impossible, given the amount and reliability of available intelligence, to reach a high-confidence assessment of the Norths nuclear capabilities, a USA intelligence official said.
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During his three decades living there, Perenchio named the estate "Chartwell" and expanded its size to 10.3 acres. It has previously been owned by renowned hotelier Arnold Kirkeby before being purchased by Perenchio in 1986.
It is also well within range of Kim Jong-un's nukes with both of his last ICBMs capable of hitting the territory.
Missile tests have been routinely carried out this year as North Korea unveiled its first ever successful launch of an ICBM on July 4, a second firing on July 27.
An analyst who specialises in North Korea, who asked not to be named, told Sky News that he believes Pyongyang is "a lot more than halfway" to achieving its aims of producing a nuclear weapon capable of exploding above the United States mainland. Pyongyang claimed that its latest missile, test-fired on July 4, can deliver a "large, heavy nuclear warhead" to the USA continent.
"North Korea is not showing any evidence it plans to halt its missile tests", said one official who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
North Korea says it will not give up on its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led United Nations command in South Korea.
The statement said that USA strategic bombers "get on the nerves of the DPRK" with their "frequent visits to the sky above south Korea".
The Pentagon is also equipped with a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV), a highly advanced version of the intercontinental nuclear missile carrying several independent warheads.
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