SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Tuesday that its military presented leader Kim Jong Un with plans to launch intermediate-range missiles into waters near Guam and “wring the windpipes of the Yankees” by creating “enveloping fire” near the key U.S. military hub in the Pacific.

The comments, while typically belligerent, are significant because they also appeared to signal a path to defuse a deepening crisis with Washington over a weapons program that is seen as nearing the ability to accurately send a nuclear missile to the U.S. mainland.

During an inspection of the army’s Strategic Forces, which handles the missile program, Kim praised the military for drawing up a “close and careful plan” and said he would watch the “foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees” a little more before deciding whether to order the missile test, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said. Kim appeared in photos sitting with a map marked by a straight line between what appeared to be northeastern North Korea and Guam, and passing over Japan.

The missile plans were previously announced, and Kim said North Korea would conduct the launches if the “Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and its vicinity” and that the United States should “think reasonably and judge properly” to avoid shaming itself, the news agency said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the United States would take out any missile seen to be heading for American soil and declared any such North Korean attack could mean war.