The REAL threat from North Korea: How Kim Jong-un could SHUT DOWN US in EMP power strike
NORTH Korea is one step closer to launching a catastrophic attack with the ability to vaporise the United States’ power grids and plunge the American heartland into darkness, it has been warned.
Fears are growing over Kim Jong-un’s next step after the dictator’s secretive state tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
And now experts are warning the warmongering nation could launch an attack on the high voltage transmission lines that compromise the US power lattice - with the possibility of shutting down major electronic systems.
The possibility of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, where a nuclear device is programmed to produce an electromagnetic wave with such force to destroy electronic systems, has plagued mankind since the Cold War.
However fresh fears have emerged after Pyongyang once again flexed its nuclear muscles on Tuesday in a direct threat to America.
US President Donald Trump has since hit back saying today in Poland he is considering a “very severe” response to North Korea’s “very, very bad behaviour”.
Speaking of the possibility of a EMP attack, James Woolsey, former chief of the Central Intelligence Agency, said: “I think this is the principal, the most important and dangerous, threat to the United States.”
He told the Union-Tribune: “If you look at the electric grid and what it’s susceptible to, we would be moving into a world with no food delivery, no water purification, no banking, no telecommunications, no medicine.
“All of these things depend on electricity in one way or another.”
ICBM analysis announced by the Pentagon announced that the intermediate-range missile was initially thought to have a range of between 1,800 and 3,400 miles.
But later analysis revealed the missile has a range of greater than 3,400 miles - considered intercontinental range.
Peter Pry, a former congressional staff member who helped lead a commission on EMP, warned North Korea’s capabilities should not be undermined.
Trump: We must confront the threat from North Korea
He told Inside the Ring: “Perhaps, most importantly, none of the analysis of the threat posed by North Korea’s ICBM considers the possibility it could be used to make an EMP attack.
“Most analysts are still predicting a North Korean ICBM threat to the US heartland is still several years away because, supposedly, the North still has to develop a re-entry vehicle and accurate guidance system to hit US cities.”.