Families Concerned For Relatives In Guam After North Korea Threat

WEST SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Local families with loved ones on the island of Guam, have been following the North Korean tensions closely today.

West Sacramento's Ray Perez has 200 relatives on Guam, including his father.

Perez received word of the new North Korea threats Tuesday afternoon.

"I was at work, and it came across my computer screen," Perez said. "And then simultaneously my mom texted me."

Perez spent the day scouring Guam news sites, checking on threats to his family's safety on the island of Guam.
The local paper and tv news headlines are calling for calm.
His family surprised him, by expressing no worries.

"When I first got the news I called my dad instantly, and I knew it was early in the morning I wanted to make sure he was OK, and he told me 'I'm fine,'" Perez said.

Despite North Korea's specific threats on the U.S. territory, Perez's uncle Facetimed from the city of Tumon, Guam, describing life as normal on this day.

People who live on Guam, with its two US military bases, are used to war planes flying overhead every day.

"It's pretty intense over here, and I don't think people in the U.S. can see what is going on here in Guam," Pete Perez said. "But right now everything is like a normal day."

Photos of Perez's summer trips on Guam show the island's beautiful beaches.

At least for those watching from far away, politics seems to be changing this picture of island paradise.

"My family over there, they think it's being overplayed," Perez said. "I do have just some concern because anything can happen, you're talking about a dictator that hurts his own people, and you had no idea what he's capable of doing."