North Korea EMP News
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DHS Combats Potential Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack DHS Sept 2020
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to prepare against ever evolving threats against the American homeland, most recently highlighting efforts to combat an Electromagnetic Pulse attack which could disrupt the electrical grid and potentially damage electronics.
Pentagon Says North Korea Still Lacks Ability to Nuke the U.S. 19 June 2019 Bloomberg
The Defense Department said in a May 2018 report to Congress that “North Korea is committed to developing a nuclear-armed ICBM that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States.” Selva said in the interview that North Korea hasn’t demonstrated that capability yet.
Trump Orders Study on Risks of Electromagnetic Weapon Attack 26 March 2019
Cyber: U.S. Escalates Online Attacks on Russia’s Power Grid 15 June 2019 NYT
In North Korea, Missile Bases Suggest a Great Deception 12 November 2018 the New York TiimesNorth Korea is moving ahead with its ballistic missile program at 16 hidden bases that have been identified in new commercial satellite images, a network long known to American intelligence agencies but left undiscussed as President Trump claims to have neutralized the North’s nuclear threat.
The satellite images suggest that the North has been engaged in a great deception: It has offered to dismantle a major launching site — a step it began, then halted — while continuing to make improvements at more than a dozen others that would bolster launches of conventional and nuclear warheads.
The existence of the ballistic missile bases, which North Korea has never acknowledged, contradicts Mr. Trump’s assertion that his landmark diplomacy is leading to the elimination of a nuclear and missile program that the North had warned could devastate the United States.
Satellite images show North Korea upgrading nuclear facility 27 June 2018
We got no deal only his "word" which has never been good. Their is no framework, no verification process. Nothing.
He got time. It could still go either way.
U.S. imposes more North Korea sanctions, Trump warns of 'phase two'
The U.S. Treasury said the sanctions were designed to disrupt North Korean shipping and trading companies and vessels and further isolate Pyongyang, but as we noted previously Russian and Chinese ships have been "caught red handed" breaking the sanctions.
All of which led to his comments during today's press conference during which Trump made apparent reference to military options his administration has repeatedly said remain on the table.
"If the sanctions don’t work, we’ll have to go phase two," Trump said.
"Phase two may be a very rough thing, may be very, very unfortunate for the world. But hopefully the sanctions will work."
The president did not specify exactly what he meant by 'Phase 2' and qualified the statement saying that he didn’t think he was "going to exactly play that card."
My comment: Chances are NK will start phase two first since they will consider this an act of war and want to get their shot in first.
North Korea sends rare announcement to all Koreans, calling for unification 24 January 2018
What got my attention: "...Pyongyang will "smash" all challenges against reunification of the Korean Peninsula."
and not surprising... Seoul worried US may launch limited strike, or 'preventive' action against North Korea 24 January 2018
Former Joint Chiefs chairman: Nuclear war with North Korea closer than ever 1 January 2018 CNN
The United States is "closer to a nuclear war with North Korea" than ever, Adm. Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday, adding that he does not "see the opportunities to solve this diplomatically at this particular point."
Mullen's warning about the possibility of war with North Korea was echoed by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, who said Sunday that 2018 could be a year of "extreme danger."
"We've got a chance here to deliver some fatal blows to some really bad actors in 2018. But if we blink, God help us all," Graham said in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Nuclear Button Always on My Desk, says Kim ... great intel, now if someone could just grab that button... meanwhile North Korea appears ready to accelerate submarine weapons tests, adding to nuclear threat and working at a feverish pace and could launch a submarine with SLBM capability as early as next year [which means now].
North Korea says new U.N. sanctions an act of war 24 December 2017 Reuters
Chinese state-run tabloid the Global Times said on Saturday the tougher resolution was aimed at preventing war.
It suggested the United States had wanted an even harsher resolution, and noted there was no indication in the resolution that the United Nations could grant the United States permission for military action.
"The difference between the new resolution and the original U.S. proposal reflects the will of China and Russia to prevent war and chaos on the Korean Peninsula. If the U.S. proposals were accepted, only war is foreseeable," it said in an editorial.
Chinese living on North Korean border told to prepare for nuclear disaster by state newspaper 6 December 2017 South China Morning Post
“We cannot say war will come, but in situations like this, China has to educate people more about nuclear weapons,” said Zhang.
Hawaii revives cold war nuclear warning siren after North Korean test of ICBM 1 December 2017 South China Morning Post
“We believe that it is imperative that we be prepared for every disaster, and in today’s world, that includes a nuclear attack,” Hawaii Governor David Ige said, adding that the possibility is remote.
US preparing for North Korea's 'final step' 20 October 2017 CNN
CIA Director Mike Pompeo said the United States has to act as if North Korea is on the verge of being able to strike it with a missile and act accordingly -- and that President Donald Trump is ready to do so.
"From a US policy perspective, we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving that objective," Pompeo said Thursday at a security forum held by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "They are so far along in that, it's now a matter of thinking about how do you stop the final step."
"Whether it happens on Tuesday or a month from Tuesday, we're in a time where the President has concluded that we have a global effort to ensure that [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un does not obtain that capacity," Pompeo continued.
Asked at Thursday's event about the threat posed by North Korea, McMaster [SECDEF] said that Trump will not accept a nuclear North Korea that threatens the US, putting the administration in a "race" to resolve the increasingly tense standoff before it devolves into a military confrontation.
"He's not going to accept this regime threatening the United States with nuclear weapons," McMaster said. "There are those who would say, well, why not accept and deter. Well, accept and deter is unacceptable."
North Korea threat is 'critical and imminent,' Japan tells U.S., South Korea 23 October 2017 AOL
The threat from North Korea has grown to a “critical and imminent level” and the United States, Japan and South Korea must address the matter, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told his U.S. and South Korean counterparts in talks on Monday.
How to Blow North Korean Missiles Out of the Sky 21 Feb 2018 Bloomberg
Public Health Response to a Nuclear Detonation Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Nice pic on the CDC website for a 18 January 2018 presentation
Joint Chiefs say invasion 'only way' to totally disarm N Korea 5 November 2017 BBC news
This was not a recommendation, just a statement of fact from the Joint Chiefs in the pentagon to their civilian leadership.
As for calls for Trump to stop sounding so provocative about having to "destroy NK" etc and use more diplomacy... Diplomacy does not work without credible threats of action in cases like this. It is the myth that the US would never use the military option to stop NK that has led to the ineffectiveness of "diplomacy" with the regime. It is this same myth that allows the financial markets to ignore the threat.
So if you want diplomacy to work to disarm NK, the regime needs a reason to come to the table before they have the ability to hit the east coast - which should be soon.
Defending the U.S. from North Korea's nuclear threat 29 October 2017 CBS
CBS 60 Minutes video or article
200 Died in North Korea Nuclear Test Site Accident: Reports 31 October 2017 Bloomberg
Darn, I wonder how that happened?
North Korea nuclear missile attack threat accelerating, Pentagon chief says 28 October 2017 USA Today
The threat of nuclear missile attack by North Korea is accelerating, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday, accusing the North of illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear programs and pledging to repel any strike.
“I cannot imagine a condition under which the United States would accept North Korea as a nuclear power,” Mattis said.
North Korea vows to launch more satellites into orbit 30 October 2017 USA Today
Analyst expect NK to use a satellite launch as an unconventional attack profile.
Stop threatening nuclear catastrophe, US warns N Korea 27 October 2017 Alijazeera
The United States does not want war with North Korea, the US military chief said on the demilitarised zone metres away from the communist state, as he warned Pyongyang to stop threatening "catastrophe" with its nuclear weapons.
"Our goal is not war but rather the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," Mattis was quoted as saying by South Korea's Yonhap news agency at Panmunjom village.
NK will not give up their nukes. So what is the other option?
On North Korea, 'We’re Fools If We Don’t Start Taking the President at His Word' 27 October 2017 the Atlantic
Senator Chris Murphy explains why he’s introducing a bill to restrict the president’s war-making powers.
It will not pass and shouldn't. It would undercut the President's attempt to bring NK to the table. Which also will not work until NK "demonstrates" to the world their capabilities.
Government "Bad Day" Training with Amateur Radio Community 27 October 2017 The National Association of Amateur Radio
The Bad Day is a solar storm taking down communication systems and the power grid similar to an EMP event but maybe more recoverable.
North Korea diplomat says take atmospheric nuclear test threat 'literally' 25 October 2017 Reuters Staff
I would define this as a market unfriendly event when it occurs.
The recent warning from North Korea’s foreign minister of a possible atmospheric nuclear test over the Pacific Ocean should be taken literally, a senior North Korean official told CNN in an interview aired on Wednesday.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said last month Pyongyang may consider conducting “the most powerful detonation” of a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean amid rising tensions with the United States.
CIA chief Mike Pompeo said last week that North Korea could be only months away from gaining the ability to hit the United States with nuclear weapons.
N. Korea says no diplomacy until it can hit US with missile 16 October 2017 CNN
North Korea is not ruling out diplomacy, but "before we can engage in diplomacy with the Trump administration, we want to send a clear message that the DPRK has a reliable defensive and offensive capability to counter any aggression from the United States," the official said.
A North Korean official reaffirmed Pyongyang's commitment to developing a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching "all the way to the East coast of the mainland US," on Monday, telling CNN that the rogue nation is currently not interested in diplomacy with the US until it achieves that goal.
Significantly, Kelly noted that Pyongyang "is developing a pretty good nuclear re-entry vehicle."
One step is an above-ground nuclear detonation, like the kind North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho threatened at the United Nations last month when he suggested leader Kim Jong Un was considering detonating "an unprecedented scale hydrogen bomb" over the Pacific after Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea.
The other step is the "testing of a long-range ICBM capable of reaching Guam - and even further," the official said.
North Korea first said it was examining a plan to target the Pacific island in August after Trump warned the isolated regime would "face fire and fury like the world has never seen" following a US intelligence assessment that North Korea had produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead.
Both steps are necessary for the DPRK to send that "clear message" to the Trump administration that it possesses an effective nuclear deterrent, the North Korean official said on Monday.
Trump said earlier this month that the US will "do what we must do" to prevent further threats from North Korea.
"We cannot allow this dictatorship to threaten our nation or our allies with unimaginable loss of life," he said at a meeting with top military officers. "We will do what we must do to prevent that from happening and it will be done if necessary, believe me."
In case you missed it Tillerson said diplomacy will continue "until the first bomb drops"
US intel official: North Korea not reliant on imported missile engines 15 August 2017 CNN
"We have intelligence to suggest that North Korea is not reliant on imports of engines -- instead, we judge they have the ability to produce the engines themselves," the official told CNN on Tuesday in response to new analysis from the International Institute for Strategic Studies that was first reported by The New York Times on Monday.
Pyongyang's mysteriously rapid development of an intercontinental ballistic missile -- particularly after a string of failed intermediate-range flight tests in 2016 -- has exceeded the expectations of US intelligence agencies...
Elleman's analysis indicated that the modified high-performance liquid-propellant engine used during successful launches of intermediate and intercontinental range missiles in recent months is based on technology developed by the Soviet Union.
Breakdown in North Korea Talks Sounds Alarms on Capitol Hill 25 October 2017 NBC
Joseph Yun, a top American diplomat to North Korea, has been warning of the breakdown in meetings on Capitol Hill and seeking help to persuade the administration to prioritize diplomacy over the heated rhetoric that appears to be pushing the two nuclear powers closer toward conflict, sources familiar with the discussions told NBC News.
“It is not so much that North Korea is shutting down, it’s that the message from the U.S. government is, ‘surrender without a fight or surrender with a fight,’” a separate U.S. official told NBC News.
“When you kneecap that effort you really move our country into a binary choice which could lead to a world war. So yes, I want him to support diplomatic efforts, not embarrass and really malign efforts that are underway,” Corker said on NBC’s TODAY on Tuesday.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo said last week that North Korea is only months away from perfecting its nuclear weapons capabilities.
“They are close enough now in their capabilities that from a U.S. policy perspective we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving” their objective of being able to strike the United States.
Former CIA Director John Brennan has warned that Trump’s actions toward North Korea have been “rather provocative.”
Why Trump's Korean war talk should be taken seriously 23 October 2017 CNN
Washington elites have long regarded war with North Korea as all but unthinkable. Yet, obscured by the wild twists and daily cacophony of the Trump presidency, the conventional wisdom is changing.
But Trump sent regional anxiety soaring when he warned the US might rain "fire and fury" on North Korea in August and later said America's military forces were "locked and loaded."
Last week, CIA Director Mike Pompeo warned that the US should behave as though North Korea is close to the "final step" of bringing 320 million Americans within reach of a nuclear bomb. In a briefing in October, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly also spoke ominously.
"Right now, we think the threat is manageable, but over time, if it grows beyond where it is today -- well, let's hope diplomacy works," he said.
Former CIA Director John Brennan last week put the risk of US war with North Korea at least at one-in-five.
Japanese defense minister sounds alarm on North Korea 23 October 2017 ABC
Japan's defense minister asserted Monday that North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities have grown to an "unprecedented, critical and imminent" level, requiring "different responses" to the threat.
The minister, Itsunori Odonera, said that this rising threat compels his country to endorse the U.S. view that "all options" must be considered, which President Donald Trump says includes possible military action.
Trump executive order lets Air Force recall up to 1,000 retired pilots for active duty 21 October 2017 CNBC
I guess Air Force Personnel Staff did not get the memo and reported they are not planning on recalling retired pilots. The Air Force also denies plans to place B-52 back on alert for the nuclear mission which hit the news. Need a little better strategic communication coordination guys.
North Korea: Trump is a 'lunatic' with 'war fever' 23 October 2017 the Hill
“Lunatic Trump is running headlong into ruin, taking America with him, and the poor puppet forces are following him, at the peril of their lives,” the article continued.
Last week, North Korea warned the U.S. would face an “unimaginable” nuclear strike for conducting joint naval drills with South Korea.
“The U.S. is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones," the state-controlled news agency KCNA said, according to Newsweek. "The U.S. should expect that it would face unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time."
North Korea claims Trump declared war with a tweet 25 September
Trump Tweet: Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!
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