North Korea appears to be protesting the joint U.S. and South Korean military maneuvers by jamming Global Positioning Devices in the south, which is a nuisance for cell phone and computers users -- but is a hint of the looming menace for the military.
Since March 4, Pyongyang has been trying to disrupt GPS receivers critical to South Korean military communications apparently in protest of the ongoing joint military training exercises between South Korean and U.S. forces. Strong jamming signals were sent intermittently every five to 10 minutes.
The scope of the damage has been minimal, putting some mobile phones and certain military equipment that use GPS signals on the fritz.
Large metropolitan areas including parts of Seoul, Incheon and Paju have been affected by the jamming, but "the situation is getting wrapped up, no severe damage has been reported for the last two days," Kyoungwoo Lee, deputy director of Korea Communications Commission, said.
The jamming, however, has raised questions about whether the Korean peninsula is bracing for new electronic warfare.
The North is believed to be nearing completion of an electromagnetic pulse bomb that, if exploded 25 miles above ground would cause irreversible damage to electrical and electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, radio and radar, experts say.
"We assume they are at a considerably substantial level of development," Park Chang-kyu of the Agency for Defense Development said at a briefing to the parliament Monday.
Park confirmed that South Korea has also developed an advanced electronic device that can be deployed in times of war.
The current attempts to interfere with GPS transmissions are coming from atop a modified truck-mounted Russian device. Pyongyang reportedly imported the GPS jamming system from Russia in early 2000 and has since developed two kinds of a modified version. It has also in recent years handed out sales catalogs of them to nations in the Middle East, according to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo.
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[You have to assume that any EMP weapon the North Koreans develop will be made available to whomever wishes to buy one.. a very bad deal. --Editor]
Since March 4, Pyongyang has been trying to disrupt GPS receivers critical to South Korean military communications apparently in protest of the ongoing joint military training exercises between South Korean and U.S. forces. Strong jamming signals were sent intermittently every five to 10 minutes.
The scope of the damage has been minimal, putting some mobile phones and certain military equipment that use GPS signals on the fritz.
Large metropolitan areas including parts of Seoul, Incheon and Paju have been affected by the jamming, but "the situation is getting wrapped up, no severe damage has been reported for the last two days," Kyoungwoo Lee, deputy director of Korea Communications Commission, said.
The jamming, however, has raised questions about whether the Korean peninsula is bracing for new electronic warfare.
The North is believed to be nearing completion of an electromagnetic pulse bomb that, if exploded 25 miles above ground would cause irreversible damage to electrical and electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, radio and radar, experts say.
"We assume they are at a considerably substantial level of development," Park Chang-kyu of the Agency for Defense Development said at a briefing to the parliament Monday.
Park confirmed that South Korea has also developed an advanced electronic device that can be deployed in times of war.
The current attempts to interfere with GPS transmissions are coming from atop a modified truck-mounted Russian device. Pyongyang reportedly imported the GPS jamming system from Russia in early 2000 and has since developed two kinds of a modified version. It has also in recent years handed out sales catalogs of them to nations in the Middle East, according to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo.
More
[You have to assume that any EMP weapon the North Koreans develop will be made available to whomever wishes to buy one.. a very bad deal. --Editor]
We are completely vulnerable to an EMP attack, and many of our enemies know it.
ReplyDeleteIt now appears to be their weapon of choice-- very easy to do, very hard to counter, and extremely effective.
You don't even have to be very accurate-- just get it about 25 mi. up over the population areas and --BANG--, we're back to the 1800's.
A very bad deal, indeed.
sweet, not sure how they plan on getting 25 miles above our populated areas though. Is the emp permanent? does it fry all electronics or just temporarily knock them out? if permanent, couldnt we just repair or replace damaged devices? I know it would be major undertaking but would it be any worse then say Katrina? Pretty sure New Orleans would have been better off with an EMP bomb then 12' of water. And how would it be hard to counter? Our military and resources dwarfs all countries, especially North Korea. They may have a small chance at causing some problems for us but when it comes down to it, we can crush them when ever its needed. The US is by far the military superpower in all aspects and also extremely resilient.
ReplyDeleteMissiles, 11:15.
ReplyDeleteLaunched from land or sea.
In the case of al qaida, it could be what's referred to as a 'Scud in a Bucket'-- a Scud missile (which they have), launched from an old freighter off the coast (they have many..)
In the event of an EMP, everything that relies on the power grid, computers or electronics is fried.
Most people don't realize how many things have computer chips in them.
Transportation will stop.
No shipments. No food. No fuel.
No phones. No electricity.
For a LONG time. It would take years to fix.
Think about that.
We have all these capabilities, and more. The N. Koreans are a threat to their neighbors....and China will keep them in line. China is the super power N. Korea fears, not us.
ReplyDeleteThe North Koreans are a threat to everybody.
ReplyDeleteThey SELL their weapons to whomever.
Including countries like Iran and Syria.
If you think they're no threat to us, you're dreaming.
Hey 5:04 pm.....I totally agree N. Korea is a threat to us....I was trying to get the point across that China has N. Korea in their crosshairs. China is also uneasy concerning N.Korea's intentions.
ReplyDelete