Where is Guam, when could North Korea bomb the US military outpost and what has Donald Trump said about threats against the island?
ONGOING tensions between US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has put the island of Guam at the centre of an international nuclear stand-off.
The sudden threat of a missile strike raining down on the Pacific US-territory has the world holding its breath, but how has the island found itself in a diplomatic crisis?
Where is Guam, what is on the island and how many people live there?
The remote island in the western Pacific Ocean measures just 210 square miles and has a population of around 160,000 people – roughly the same as Reading.
It is situated around 1,500 miles to the west of the Philippines and just over 2,000 miles from North Korea.
Crucially, the island is also a strategic US military outpost and home to more than 6,000 US service personnel.
American military bases occupy nearly 30 per cent of Guam’s land, including the Andersen Air Force Base and the Naval Base Guam.
The US island territory is also home to a host of nuclear bombers.
Why is Guam under threat from North Korea and is it within range of its missiles?
In November, two US B-1 bombers were flown from Guam over the Korean peninsula in a joint exercise with the Japanese and South Korean air forces.
The exercise will have antagonised North Korea and its military-obsessed dictator Kim Jong-un.
Intelligence reports state North Korea has produced nuclear weapons and is capable of striking Guam and targets further afield.
US intelligence documents seen by , say: “North Korea has produced nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery”.
Two intelligence officials contacted by the paper confirmed the “broad conclusions” made by the shock report, which was dated July 28.
How is the island a US territory?
The island was captured by the US from Spain in 1898 during the Spanish-American war.
It is America’s most western territory but it is not a state.
Guam’s citizens, where the most common ethnic group is Chamorro, are American by birth.
Over the last 400 years the island has also been ruled by Spain and Japan.
What has Donald Trump said about the threat against Guam?
President Trump didn’t hold back as he told North Korea the United States would not tolerate threats.
Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, Trump said: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States.
“They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
H.R. McMaster, Donald Trump’s national security adviser said that a nuclear-armed North Korea would be “intolerable, from the President’s perspective.”
Trump added that his “fire and fury” comments, which were criticised and mocked by many observers, might not have been “tough enough”.
The Sun revealed Britain would play no part in a military strike on the communist state in a move that was slammed as “weak and ill-judged” by ex-Commander of British Forces Afghanistan Colonel Richard Kemp.
When could an attack against Guam take place – and how is the US preparing for strike?
Reports from North Korea indicates Kim is prepared to wait before striking Guam to see what actions America takes.
In August, North Korea launched a missile which soared over Japan and into the sea.
US defence officials have released two survival videos advising Guam residents on what they should do in the event of an attack.
Its homeland security department urged Pacific islanders to share the videos with their family and friends so locals can become “resilient”.
The emergency videos come weeks after North Korea successfully launched the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The ICBM which is the longest-range missile ever tested by the rogue state, was capable of striking “the entire US mainland”, including Guam, Kim Jong-un claimed.
