United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the US military will know “within moments” after North Korea launches a missile where will it hit. “We’ll know if it’s going towards Guam within moments,” Mattis said during the Press Gaggle on August 14.
“I think if they fire at the United States, it could escalate into war very quickly, yes. That’s called war, if they shoot at us,” he said.
He said they will “take out” the missile if US military’s assessment says it will hit Guam, a part of United States.
“If they do that, then it’s game on. We’re going to try our best to make sure it does not hit the United States. But we’ll know if that’s where it’s going,” the top Pentagon official said.
However, if their assessment shows the missile will not reach Guam, he said “then it becomes an issue that we take up however the president chooses.”
“You can’t make all those kinds of decisions in advance. There’s a host of things going on. There’s allies that we consult with, as the president made very clear last week. We talked about our allies repeatedly in a statement. That’s something we have to think of. But we’re getting into hypotheticals and this sort of thing,” he added.
Meanwhile, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un was already briefed with the plan to fire missiles toward Guam, however, the North Korean leader will wait for US’ next move.