North Korea lays out plan to fire missiles at Guam

North Korean state media announced Thursday a detailed plan to launch missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, a major military hub and home to U.S. bombers. The announcement warned the rogue nation was finalizing a plan to fire four of its Hwasong-12 missiles over Japan and into waters 19 to 25 miles from the tiny island, which hosts 7,000 U.S. military personnel and has a population of 160,000. Japan and South Korea vowed a strong reaction if North Korea were to go through with the attack. The Korean People’s Army Strategic Force will finalize the plan by mid-August, according to the announcement, and present it to Kim Jong Un and “wait for his order.” The South Korean military said North Korea would face a “stern and strong” response from Washington and Seoul if it carried out the launch, and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said the attack would threaten Japan’s existence as a nation.