N Korea readies missiles after US flights

North Korea put its missile units on standby to attack US military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the US flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and “judged the time has come to settle accounts with the US imperialists in view of the prevailing situation”, the official KCNA news agency said.

KCNA said North Korea and the US could only settle their differences by “physical means”. The North has an arsenal of Soviet-era short- range Scud missiles that can hit South Korea, but its longer-range Nodong and Musudan missiles, which could in theory hit US Pacific bases, are untested.