EXCLUSIVE: North Korea Openly Threatens Electromagnetic Pulse Attack for First Time

EXCLUSIVE: North Korea Openly Threatens Electromagnetic Pulse Attack for First TimeRodong Sinmun/North Korean State Media

by ADELLE NAZARIAN
7 Sep 2017

WASHINGTON, DC – North Korea has, for the first time, threatened to wage an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack against the United States. Such an attack has the potential to cause catastrophic damage to North America, Canada, the West, and many of its neighbors.

North Korea threatens to wipe out the United States on a regular basis through its state media. However, this is the first time North Korea has openly threatened to use an EMP weapon.

According to the Associated Press, shortly after North Korea launched its sixth nuclear test using an H-bomb, the “Hermit Kingdom’s” leader Kim Jong-un issued a statement through its state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claiming the weapon “is a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack according to strategic goals.”

Kim reportedly claimed that “all components of the H-bomb were homemade … thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants.”

Breitbart News reported in June that “an EMP attack can be caused by the sun, by a nuclear EMP (NEMP), or a non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NNEMP).”

An NEMP is an abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation that occurs as a result of a nuclear explosion. An NNEMP is virtually the same except it does not include the nuclear component. The currents caused by these charges the atmosphere with electromagnetic waves that travel down onto the earth’s surface at super speeds hitting everything within their line of sight, sending high-voltage energy through the electricity grid and frying them, causing massive disarray.

Anthony Furey’s book Pulse Attack: The Real Story Behind the Secret Weapon That Can Destroy North America is the first of its kind to outline the A-Z effects of a potential EMP attack on North America. The book also presents several simple and straightforward ways North America can protect against such a devastating scenario.

Furey is a national columnist for the Toronto Sun and a fellow at True North Initiative, a Canada-based think tank dedicated to advancing sound immigration and security policies.
“I wrote the book and of course it talks about how this could be a possibility for North America,” Furey told Breitbart News. “But I would have always preferred that not be true. And then I read the statement and my jaw just dropped.”

North America’s grid is currently not protected against an EMP disruption or attack. Furey told Breitbart News that this recent statement from North Korea will likely increase public interest in the potential for an EMP attack. “And politics is, of course, downstream from culture. It will change the way we look at the issue culturally because for a long time there were people who were dismissive of it” by downplaying the probability of an EMP attack.

Furey noted how “particularly over the last six months, analysts have underestimated North Korea’s abilities. And right now, the main underestimation is that, sure, they have some degree of ICBMs, sure they have some degree of nukes and some degree of miniaturized nukes. They just don’t have the guidance systems and the precision to do it. The problem with an EMP attack – or, from the perspective of someone using it, the benefit of an EMP attack – is you don’t need as much precision. You’re just detonating it above a general area. Whereas, if you want to strike a target, you have to get within a few kilometers of it. That is not the case with EMP.”

He said that, while “EMP has always been possible, that’s never been doubted. The probability has always been minor. But that probability has now just increased.”

Furey noted that, if the Koreans can fly over Japan or any other nation, they can fly and detonate an EMP over it. Furey, who is Canadian, noted that the Canadian government is also not prepared for an EMP attack.

Protecting North American’s electrical grid against the most devastating consequences of an EMP disruption or attack is simple and would require, at its most basic, a minimal amount of resources. State by state protections are likely.

In his book, Furey notes that former President Obama released several hundreds of millions of dollars to harden the Cheyenne Mountain Complex against an EMP attack. “President Obama was able to sign onto something, probably in a very implicit small way; there wasn’t large fanfare about it. But there has been movement on it. So I think it’s completely reasonable to expect movement from President Trump on an executive level and definitely from Congress.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...or-first-time/

North Korea conducts 6th nuclear test, says it was H-bomb



SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said it set off a hydrogen bomb Sunday in its sixth nuclear test, which judging by the earthquake it set off appeared to be its most powerful explosion yet.

South Korea’s weather agency estimated the nuclear blast yield of the presumed test was between 50 and 60 kilotons, or five to six times stronger than North Korea’s fifth test in September 2016. That would mark a significant step forward in the North’s quest for a viable nuclear missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States.

On North Korean television, a newsreader called the test a “complete success” and said the “two-stage thermonuclear weapon” had “unprecedented” strength. Hours earlier, Pyongyang claimed its leader had inspected a hydrogen bomb meant for a new intercontinental ballistic missile.

Seoul’s weather agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff said an artificial 5.7 magnitude quake occurred at 12:29 p.m. local time, in Kilju, northern Hamgyong province, the site where North Korea has conducted nuclear tests in the past. Seoul officials revised their earlier estimate of 5.6 magnitude quake. The U.S. Geological Survey called the first quake an explosion with a magnitude 6.3.

The U.S. State Department had no immediate reaction. South Korea’s presidential office said it will hold a National Security Council meeting chaired by President Moon Jae-in. South Korea’s military said it has strengthened its monitoring and readiness while mulling a variety of possible responses that could be executed in collaboration with the U.S.

Japan confirmed that North Korea conducted a nuclear test, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said. “It is absolutely unacceptable if North Korea did force another nuclear test, and we must protest strongly,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

The USGS and China’s earthquake administration detected a second tremor in North Korea minutes after the first, describing it as a cave-in or collapse. South Korea’s weather agency, however, said no second quake occurred.
North Korea conducted two nuclear tests last year, the last nearly a year ago, on the Sept. 9 anniversary of the nation’s founding. It has since maintained a torrid pace in weapons tests, including its first two intercontinental ballistic missiles test in July. Last month, North Korea fired a potentially nuclear-capable midrange missile over northern Japan.

Earlier Sunday, photos released by the North Korean government showed Kim talking with his lieutenants as he observed a silver, peanut-shaped device that was apparently the purported thermonuclear weapon destined for an ICBM. What appeared to be the nose cone of a missile could also be seen near the alleged bomb in one picture, which could not be independently verified and was taken without outside journalists present. Another photo showed a diagram on the wall behind Kim of a bomb mounted inside a cone.

State media said Kim visited the Nuclear Weapons Institute and inspected a “homemade” H-bomb with “super explosive power” that “is adjustable from tens (of) kiloton to hundreds (of) kiloton.”

North Korea’s nuclear and missile program has made huge strides since Kim rose to power following his father’s death in late 2011. The North followed its two tests of Hwasong-14 ICBMs by threatening in August to launch a salvo of its Hwasong-12 intermediate range missiles toward the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam.

It flew a Hwasong-12 over northern Japan last week, the first such overflight by a missile capable of carrying nukes, in a launch Kim described as a “meaningful prelude” to containing Guam, the home of major U.S. military facilities, and more ballistic missile tests targeting the Pacific.

It may be difficult for outside experts to confirm that the nuclear device detonated Sunday was an H-bomb. State media reported that the test left no trace of radioactive material. The U.S. and its allies attempt to detect blast material to gauge North Korea’s progress, but Pyongyang has become better at containing it as its nuclear program has evolved.

To back up its claims to nuclear mastery, such tests are vital. The first of its two atomic tests last year involved what Pyongyang claimed was a sophisticated hydrogen bomb; the second it said was its most powerful atomic detonation ever.

It is almost impossible to independently confirm North Korean statements about its highly secret weapons program. South Korean government officials said the estimated explosive yield of last year’s first test was much smaller than what even a failed hydrogen bomb detonation would produce. There was speculation that North Korea might have detonated a boosted fission bomb, a weapon considered halfway between an atomic bomb and an H-bomb.

It is clear, however, that each new missile and nuclear test gives the North invaluable information that allows big jumps in capability. A key question is how far North Korea has gotten in efforts to consistently shrink down nuclear warheads so they can fit on long-range missiles.

North Korea is thought to have a growing arsenal of nuclear bombs and has spent decades trying to perfect a multistage, long-range missile to eventually carry smaller versions of those bombs.

South Korea’s main spy agency has previously asserted that it does not think Pyongyang currently has the ability to develop miniaturized nuclear weapons that can be mounted on long-range ballistic missiles. Some experts disagree.

The White House said President Donald Trump spoke with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan regarding “ongoing efforts to maximize pressure on North Korea.” The statement did not say whether the conversation came before or after the North’s latest claim.

A long line of U.S. presidents has failed to check North Korea’s persistent pursuit of missiles and nuclear weapons. Six-nation negotiations on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program in exchange for aid fell apart in early 2009.

The North said in its statement Sunday that its H-bomb “is a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack according to strategic goals.”

Kim, according to the statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, claimed that “all components of the H-bomb were homemade ... thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants.”

In what could be read as a veiled warning of more nuclear tests, Kim underlined the need for scientists to “dynamically conduct the campaign for successfully concluding the final-stage research and development for perfecting the state nuclear force” and “set forth tasks to be fulfilled in the research into nukes.”

The two Koreas have shared the world’s most heavily fortified border since their war in the early 1950s ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 American troops are deployed in South Korea as deterrence against North Korea.
https://www.apnews.com/edd942c7344c4...&utm_medium=AP
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We can not allow North Korea to have any nuclear weapons. Period. This has to be stopped by all means necessary, whatever it takes.

The already have them, I think.

Also, we have no right to say they can't, unless we force every other country to destroy theirs, including the US and Israel.

It's past time our government continues to pretend they need to police the entire world - there are others in this world. Why not get with them and try to cool such a situation rather than yelling threats similar to third grade school ground rhetoric.

It's embarrassing, it's insulting to us, and it is very dangerous.

They will keep harping on this, the media will fan the flames, soon the American people will decide we must, simply must do something.

This is what happened in the Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and our involvement in Egypt, in Iran, and all the other 'little wars' we are fighting.

What do we have to show for that horrible cost of human deaths, destruction of human lives and a huge debt.