Trump warns 'fire and fury' for DPRK if it threatens US

- Trump warns "fire and fury" for DPRK if it threatens US

- Pyongyang said ready to give Washington a "severe lesson"

- Possible DPRK already has miniaturized nuclear arms

President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang on Tuesday against making any further threats against the United States.

"DPRK

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 told reporters

at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

As

tensions escalated, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)

said it was "carefully examining" a plan to strike Guam, site of a US

military base.

(US

President Donald Trump speaks about DPRK during an opioid-related

briefing at Trump's golf estate in Bedminster, New Jersey, August 8,

2017. /Reuters Photo)

A DPRK military spokesman,

in a statement carried by state-run KCNA news agency, said the plan

would be put into practice once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision.

In

another statement citing a different military spokesman, DPRK said it

could carry out a pre-emptive operation if there were signs of a US

provocation.

Washington has warned it is ready to use

force if need be to stop DPRK's ballistic missile and nuclear programs

but that it prefers global diplomatic action, including sanctions.

The

consequences of any US strike would potentially be catastrophic not

only for people in the DPRK but also the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan

and the thousands of US military personnel within range of any DPRK

retaliatory strikes.

The UN Security Council

unanimously imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang on Saturday over its

continued missile tests, that could slash the reclusive country's 3

billion US dollars annual export revenue by a third.

Pyongyang

has made no secret of plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to

strike the United States and has ignored international calls to halt

its nuclear and missile programs.

It says its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are a legitimate means of defense against perceived US hostility.

It has long accused the United States and South Korea of escalating tensions by conducting military drills.

Tension rise

(DPRK missiles are displayed during a military parade past Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang, January 6, 2016. /AFP Photo)

Tensions have risen since DPRK carried out two nuclear bomb tests last year and two ICBM tests last month.

Republican US Senator John McCain said Trump should tread cautiously when issuing threats to DPRK unless he is prepared to act.

"I

take exception to the president’s comments because you got to be sure

you can do what you say you’re going to do,” he said in a radio

interview.

The Trump administration's attempts to

pressure DPRK into abandoning its nuclear and missile ambitions have so

far gained little traction.

US Defense Secretary Jim

Mattis has warned of an "effective and overwhelming" response against

DPRK if it chose to use nuclear weapons but has said any military

solution would be "tragic on an unbelievable scale."

The

United States has 28,500 troops in the ROK to guard against the threat

from the north. Japan hosts around 54,000 US military personnel, the US

Department of Defense says, and tens of thousands of Americans work in

both countries.

Seoul is home to a population of

roughly 10 million, within range of massed pre-targeted DPRK's rockets

and artillery, which would be impossible to destroy in a first US

strike.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that

Pyongyang has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that

can fit inside its missiles, according to a confidential US intelligence

assessment.

But US intelligence officials said there

is no reliable evidence it has mastered all three – an ICBM, a

miniaturized nuclear warhead and a nosecone robust, much less tested and

combined them into a weapon capable of hitting targets in the United

States.

US intelligence officials, who spoke on

condition of anonymity, also said there is no certainty about the number

of nuclear warheads DPRK has assembled, with estimates ranging from 20

to as many as 60 and most experts leaning toward the lower end of that

range.

DPRK's ICBM tests last month suggested it was making technical progress, Japan's annual Defence White Paper warned.