North Korea has made its next move in the back and forth taunting between itself and the United States/South Korea tandem.
North Korean media reported that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, has given the order to aim rockets at America's mainland, as well as, bases in South Korea.
According to KCNA, a news agency run by the state, the North Korean leader “said he has judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation.”
"If they make a reckless provocation with huge strategic forces, (we) should mercilessly strike the U.S. mainland, their stronghold, their military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea," he said according to KCNA.
The news agency also ran a photo of of Kim in a conference with North Korean military officials. In it he is looking over documents. He is also standing in front of a map with the title "Plan for the strategic forces to target mainland U.S." It has lines drawn over the Pacific Ocean, landing on various places in the U.S.
According to Kim Min-seok, spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, the South Korean/United States team is “monitoring any movements of North Korea's short, middle and middle- to long-range missiles."
The tension between the two sides have been steadily increasing over the past few weeks. Recently the U.S. and Korea have publicly come up with a plan to respond to various North Korean provocations.
The U.S. also conducted a very public practice bombing by B-2s over the Korean Peninsula earlier this week.
Some have said that the recent public moves by the U.S. and South Korea are just adding fuel to the fire. U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel believes otherwise.
"We, the United States and South Korea, have not been involved in provoking anything," he said. "We, over the years, have been engaged with South Korea on joint exercises. The B-2 flight was part of that."
