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North Korea Developing Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons
An anonymous reader writes "The Sydney Morning Herald reports, 'North Korea is using Russian technology to develop electromagnetic pulse weapons aimed at paralyzing military electronic equipment south of the border, according to South Korea's spy agency. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a report to parliament that the North had purchased Russian electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weaponry to develop its own versions. EMP weapons are used to damage electronic equipment. At higher energy levels, an EMP can cause more widespread damage including to aircraft structures and other objects. The spy agency also said the North's leader Kim Jong-Un sees cyber attacks as an all-purpose weapon along with nuclear weapons and missiles, according to legislators briefed by the NIS.'" Let's not forget that North Korea has also achieved nuclear fusion, developed a super drink that can cure aging and disease, and found a "unicorn lair" last year.
Serbia, Iraq shows that the lights off out and stay off for a while. What can utility crews do? Race back to the supply depo and pick up a limited amount of just in time expensive stock and patch up a section of grid connected what?
As for EMP in the real world - creating a useful field is the unique physics per device size or weight gets strange with expected range focused on military equipment thats shielded...
There is no 'win' with easy with EMP unless you go nuclear to form the EMP. The huge conventional forces needed to create the 'needed' EMP will have more range than the produced EMP.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Another_Day
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Given the frivolous nature of the comments on this article thus far it seems that few of you have ever considered the effects of a serious EMP attack on your way of life. The mere fact that NK can put something in orbit means they don't necessarily have to have the tech to deliver it to the us as you would a ballistic missile, but just wait for the oppotune time to de-orbit it. In addition, the US happens to be in a location where the earth's magnetic field can significantly enhance the effect of a NEMP. My admittedly hazy memory says the effect of catastrophic failure of US power infrastructure from a well placed NEMP was 70% of the population due to starvation, rioting and the other horsemen of the apocalypse. In addition, the estimate was decades to restore full services if you even could under such circumstances.
>US has achieved democracy
yes she actually has, and after world war II defended it even on other places like western europe (where i am from)
the self loathing of the west (here in europe and in the U.S.), and the constant ridiculing of democracy is striking.
if the motive for such comments is an expression of disappointment with some of the weaknesses of the current democratic system then ok i understand. But if somebody REALLY believes that our democratic system (with all its weaknesses) is "just as bad" as a dictatorship (like in north korea), then i can only suggest to pick up a history book and make a reality check
In the 1970s the Soviets designed a simple EMP device that could be built in any machine shop inexpensively, and the plans have been in the wild since the fall of the Soviet Union. It's interesting that it's not used by the terriers, imagine what the effect would be on Wall Street or Las Vegas.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Depends on what you're trying to do.
Consider America's modern soldier--or maybe a few years down the road. He's wearing radios and cameras, has computer-aided targeting systems, etc. How are the North Koreans going to compete against that kind of technology?
On the other hand, if you could knock it out from a short distance away, you turn an effectively integrated military unit into a bunch of guys with guns. You level the playing field.