Trump warns N Korea that US military is 'locked and loaded'

President Donald Trump says the US military is "locked and
loaded" to deal with North Korea, ramping up the rhetorical
brinkmanship.
"Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded,
should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong-un will find
another path!" he tweeted.
He spoke as North Korea accused him of "driving" the Korean
peninsula to the "brink of a nuclear war".
Pyongyang has announced plans to fire missiles near the US
territory of Guam.
The Pacific island's homeland security agency issued a fact
sheet on Friday with tips for residents to prepare for any missile
threat.
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The sheet states: "Do not look at the flash or fireball - it can blind
you."
"Lie flat on the ground and cover your head. If the explosion is
some distance away, it could take 30 seconds or more for the
blast wave to hit."
Moscow said the exchange of threats between Washington and
Pyongyang "worry us very much".
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rated the risk of military conflict
as "very high" as he put forward a joint Russian-Chinese plan to
defuse the crisis.
Mr Trump's tweet follows his threat earlier this week to rain "fire
and fury" on Pyongyang.
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His latest post came hours after his Defence Secretary Jim
Mattis attempted to defuse tensions by emphasising a peaceful
resolution to the crisis.
Speaking in California late on Thursday, the Pentagon chief said
it was his job to be ready for conflict.
But he said the effort by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and UN
Ambassador Nikki Haley "has diplomatic traction, it is gaining
diplomatic results".
Mr Mattis added: "The tragedy of war is well enough known. It
doesn't need another characterisation beyond the fact that it
would be catastrophic."
When asked about US military plans for a potential conflict, he
said the country was ready, but he would not "tell the enemy in
advance what I'm going to do".
Also on Friday, North Korea's official KCNA news agency
accused Washington of a "criminal attempt to impose nuclear
disaster upon the Korean nation".
Pyongyang's media outlet said America was making "desperate
efforts" to test weapons in the Korean peninsula.
The US is "the mastermind of nuclear threat, the heinous
nuclear war fanatic", the report said.
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Tensions have escalated since North Korea tested two
intercontinental ballistic missiles in July.
The regime was further angered by last week's UN decision to
increase economic sanctions against it.
North Korea has said it will within days finalise a plan to fire
medium-to-long-range rockets towards Guam, where US
strategic bombers are based, along with more than 160,000 US
citizens.
There has been no indication that any actual attack on the
Pacific island is imminent.
On Thursday Mr Trump suggested that his own statements on
North Korea had not been tough enough, warning the regime to
be "very, very nervous".
However, he added that the US would always consider
negotiations.
He also chided the North's closest ally, China, saying it could do
"a lot more".
China's state-run Global Times newspaper wrote that Beijing
should stay neutral if North Korea launches an attack that
threatens the US.