The governor of Guam agreed on Wednesday, Aug. 9, with President Donald Trump’s fiery warning to North Korea during an interview with Fox News.
“As far as I’m concerned, as an American citizen, I want a president that says that if any nation such as North Korea attacks Guam, attacks Honolulu, attacks the West Coast that they will be met with hell and fury,” Gov. Eddie Calvo said.
Guam is a Unites States territory in the Pacific Ocean that is about 2,100 miles from the North Korea, a communist regime. North Korea has long viewed Guam as a threat. The United States has been reinforcing its military presence there, in part, to keep Pyongyang in check.
North Korea ramped up its threats to the United States and tested several missiles this year, triggering sanctions against it worth $1 billion, which were unanimously approved by the United Nations in early August.
The sanctions didn’t play the intended role of tempering the warmongering ambitions of the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un. He instead used the sanctions as a reason to intensify the threats, finally drawing grim warnings from President Trump and his generals.
“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 said on Aug. 8.
If Trump’s warning was charged and fiery, the one issued the next day by Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was downright grim. Mattis demanded that North Korea “stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons.”
North Korea “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.
Calvo issued a statement to the residents of Guam on Aug. 9, stressing that the island is not in danger. Guam residents are U.S. citizens, with the exception that they cannot vote for president.
While approving of Trump’s stance on North Korea, Calvo said that he was more concerned by a statement by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who said, “If there was going to be a war, it would be in the region, not in America.”
Calvo noted Guam’s proximity to North Korea.
“This is American sovereign soil,” he said. “There are over 200,000 American citizens.”
Guam is an isolated island about 30 miles long. Thousands of U.S. troops are stationed there at Andersen Air Force Base and Naval Base Guam.
DEVELOPING...
Japan to Hit Any Guam-Bound North Korea Missile
By Reuters
Japan could legally intercept a North Korean missile headed toward Guam, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Thursday in remarks reported by Kyodo news service.
Onodera told a lower house of parliament committee that Japan would be allowed to hit a missile headed towards the U.S. Pacific territory if it was judged to be an existential threat to Japan, Kyodo said. This is a reiteration of the Japanese government’s position.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday Japan will continue to cooperate with the United States to take specific steps in strengthening their defense systems against North Korea’s growing missile threat.
North Korea dismissed on Thursday warnings by U.S. President Donald Trump that it would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States as a “load of nonsense”, and outlined detailed plans for a missile strike near the Pacific territory of Guam.
Suga said the Japanese government is ready to evacuate its citizens in the event of an attack on a foreign country, or Guam - a popular destination among Japanese tourists.
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