North Korea has issued a fresh threat against the US territory of Guam, which houses key military bases. Recent military actions by the US have forced the hermit kingdom to bring its "hand closer to "trigger" for taking the toughest countermeasure", it said.

This is not the first time the reclusive nation has threatened to mount an attack on Guam. Earlier, the country's supreme leader Kim Jong-un had warned he has plans already outlined to launch missiles on the US territory.

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In the latest threat, the North Korean state media carried a dispatch saying the US has been unrelenting in its military actions near the Korean peninsula, possibly referring to the recent naval exercises.

"We have already warned several times that we will take counteractions for self-defence including a salvo of missiles into waters near the US territory of Guam, an advance base for invading the DPRK [the Democratic People's Republic of Korea – North Korea's official name], where key US bases are located, as the US has resorted to military actions in sensitive regions, making the waters off the Korean peninsula and in the Pacific restless," said a report from the state-run media, according to a tweet from a CNN correspondent.

Previously also, the North had threatened to fire four long-range missiles at Guam, home to about 160,000 residents, prompting a stinging response from the US. Following that, Pyongyang backed off and said the country would watch the US' actions for some time.

Kim's latest threat comes as a response to the ongoing maritime exercises by the US Navy's strike group, which is being led by the supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan.

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