North Korean nukes and space war

One aspect of North Korea’s nuclear developments that warrants closer attention is its ability to use nuclear weapons to generate electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks, or threaten low-Earth orbiting satellites in space.

The testing of higher yield nuclear weapons gives North Korea the ability to attack electrical and electronic systems over a wide area. Detonating a nuclear weapon at high altitude, such as in low-Earth orbit (LEO), would generate EMP, which would fry electrical and electronic circuits over a large geographic area…

If North Korea could detonate a nuclear weapon in space, it could also undertake a ‘Van Allen’ attack that would be designed to excite and expand the lower Van Allen radiation belt around Earth, exposing up to 803 satellites in LEO to high levels of radiation…

If a combined Van Allen and EMP attack was effectively carried out, the ability to re-establish space systems could be at risk if satellite production facilities were damaged. In the interim, global economic systems would fall apart as the vital communications links for stock markets collapsed.