North Korea Could Be Secretly Developing EMP Strike Capability To Attack U.S. From Space, Expert Claims


An expert has raised the alarm that Kim Jong-un’s regime in North Korea could be secretly planning an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the U.S. with two of its satellites orbiting in space. Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, the executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, has said that evidence indicates North Korea could be working secretly to develop the capability to set off an EMP by detonating a high-altitude nuclear device in space.

Despite the fact that other experts have dismissed the suggestion, Pry insists there is evidence that the North Korean military under Kim Jong-un is working secretly, using two Earth observation satellites it launched into space in 2012 and 2016, to develop the capability to wage an EMP war against the U.S., according to the Independent.

An EMP weapon, according to Pry, could incapacitate the U.S. military’s communication, surveillance, command, and control by knocking out its electronic systems infrastructure. North Korea started its satellite program in the 1980s and eventually launched two satellites into space in 2012 and 2016.

The North Korean regime is working to perfect a military strategy whereby it positions its two satellites over the United States in space to deliver a devastating EMP strike in the event of a military confrontation with the U.S., Pry claimed. The regime could then use the positioning of the satellites and their capability to deliver a crippling EMP attack as a bargaining chip if the U.S. threatens missile strikes or any other form of military action against the country.

“Then if a crisis comes up and if we decide to attack North Korea, Kim Jong-un can threaten our president and say, ‘Well, don’t do that because we are going to burn your whole country down,'” Pry told Breitbart.

He argued that Kim Jong-un has already issued a threat that his military has the capability to devastate the U.S.

“I mean, he has made threats about turning the United States into ashes and he connected the satellite program to this in public statements to deter us from attacking,” Pry said. “If you wanted to win a New Korean war, one of the things you would certainly consider doing is taking out the United States homeland itself.”

The latest alarming news about North Korea’s threat to U.S. national security comes after recent escalation of military aggression rhetoric between both countries. Tension has built up in the Korean Peninsula over Kim Jong-un’s dogged pursuit of nuclear strike capability. At the height of the tensions, President Donald Trump warned that his administration was ready to solve the North Korean problem unilaterally if the Chinese failed to step up to the plate.

Trump then followed up the warning, saying that although the U.S. would prefer a peaceful resolution of the stand-off in the Korean Peninsula, his administration was ready for a “major conflict” over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile program.

Pyongyang responded to the threats from Washington defiantly, vowing to launch a “merciless response” to U.S. military aggression.

Although North Korea experts have dismissed the suggestion that Kim Jong-un’s regime has the technological capability to launch a nuclear missile attack against the U.S., others have raised fears that the country’s aim could be to develop the capability to launch attacks against Seoul. However, Pry argued that instead of developing the capability to launch nuclear missile attacks, North Korea could be planning to surprise its opponents in the event of a military confrontation by pursuing a radically different military strategy based on EMP strike capability.

He said that the North Korean regime was likely taking inspiration from a previous Cold War era program by the Soviets. The Soviet program was designed to defeat the U.S. by launching an incapacitating EMP attack. Pry claimed that the design of recent test rocket launches by the North Korean regime looked “suspiciously like practice for an EMP attack.”

He pointed out that in recent launch tests, the North Koreans did not aim to maximize range as would be expected if they were trying to develop long-range missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads. Rather, the aim of the tests appeared to be to attain high-altitude as rapidly as possible, one of the key requirements for a successful EMP attack.

But Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear expert, has dismissed Pry’s suggestion as unrealistic, saying there is no evidence that an EMP strike could knock out electric systems on a large scale. To support his argument, he pointed to the Starfish Prime test carried out by the U.S. military on July 9, 1962, which gave disappointing results.

During the test, the U.S. military detonated a powerful nuclear device about 250 miles over the Pacific. The detonation failed to have a dramatic effect on electronic systems down below. Only a few street lights in Honolulu were affected.

[Featured Image by Wong Maye-E/AP Images]

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