Hagatna, Guam (CNN)North Korea is working on a plan to fire four missiles into the sea off Guam, which will be ready to present to leader Kim Jong Un by mid-August, state media KCNA reported Thursday.
The plan, if implemented, would see four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missiles fired into waters 30 to 40 kilometers (18 to 25 miles) off the coast of the US territory in response to escalating rhetoric from President Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, Trump vowed to meet any additional threats from Pyongyang with "fire and fury," a statement backed by strong words from US Defense Secretary James Mattis.
North Korea must "cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people," Mattis said in a written statement Wednesday.
Earlier, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had sought to defuse tensions by saying there was no sign the threat level of North Korea had changed and that Americans should "sleep well at night."
North Korea's estimated splash-down of the missiles would place them just outside of Guam's 12 nautical mile territorial waters, but well within its 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone.