Tag Archives: North Korea

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Will the United States Use Nanoweapons to Topple the Kim Regime?

Categories, Nanoweapons, North Korea, ,

Nanoweapons are the next and most deadly generation of military weapons the world has ever encountered. In fact, they promise to be even more deadly than nuclear weapons. A cloud of secrecy has kept most people from even knowing they exist. Given this fact, let’s define nanoweapons. Nanoweapons are any military technology that exploits the power of nanotechnology. This begs a question, What is nanotechnology? According to the United States National Nanotechnology Initiative’s website, nano.gov, “Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.” In simple terms, the diameter of a typical human hair equals about 100,000 nanometers. Therefore, the largest nanotechnology is over a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. This means nanotechnology is invisible to the naked eye or even under an optical microscope.

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jung um, has already accused the United States of attempting to assassinate him using nanoweapons. In a 1,800 report issued on May 5, 2017, the North Korean state news agency KCNA said a “terrorist group” conspired with the CIA and South Korea’s Intelligence Service (IS) to assassinate its leader Kim Jong un using a “biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance.” This report marks the second time the United States finds itself accused of using nanoweapons. Pravda, Russia’s state-run newspaper ran this headline on June 6, 2016: “US nano weapon killed Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, scientists say.” While both Russia and North Korea are widely known to issue fake news to support their political agendas, it is striking that they both mention the United States’ use of nanoweapons, specifically nano poisons.

 Is it true? It could be. The United States leads in the development of nanoweapons. Using nano poison to assassinate someone would be virtually untraceable. Unlike a conventional poison, it is nearly impossible to detect its use. What are nano poisons? A nano poison consists of toxic nanoparticles. Because of the size, less than a 100 nanometers in diameter, toxic nanoparticles are absorbed more readily than other known toxins. Nanoparticles are able to cross biological membranes and access cells, tissues, and organs that their larger counterparts cannot. Therefore, nano poisons are more deadly than their bulk counterparts are. Cancer-causing radioactive nanoparticles are particularly deadly and almost impossible to detect. Once a person ingests radioactive nanoparticles, they may die months or even years later, as was claimed regarding the death of Venezuela’s former president, Hugo Chavez.

Currently, the United States, China, and Russia are secretly spending billions of dollars to gain an asymmetrical advantage in nanoweapons. In 2000, the United States government launched the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a research and development initiative involving the nanotechnology-related activities of 25 Federal agencies with a range of research and regulatory roles and responsibilities. To date, the US has invested over $20 billion in NNI programs. NNI dedicates at least 20% of its budget to DOD programs. In addition, each branch of the US military has its own nanotechnology R&D facility. Nanoweapons are real. As I fully describe in my latest book, Nanoweapons: A Growing Threat to Humanity, the United States already secretly deploys them.

Nanoweapons are particularly attractive as military weapons since:

1. Unlike nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, no international treaties limit the development and deployment of nanoweapons or their use in warfare

2. Nanoweapons, for example toxic nanoparticles, have the potential to be weapons of mass destruction

3. Developing nanoweapons is less costly than developing nuclear weapons

4. Detecting nanoweapons manufacturing facilities is difficult

5. Detecting the source of a nanoweapons attack is difficult

Ironically, the next big thing in military weapons will be small and almost invisible, nanoweapons. The United States is the world nanoweapons leader. Therefore, it’s logical that they would use this capability to defend the homeland. If we learn that Kim Jung un is dying from cancer, similar to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, it may be the result of a nanoweapons attack. Science fiction? No! Science Fact.

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Will the United States Use Nanoweapons to Resolve the North Korean Crisis?

Categories, nanotechnology, Nanoweapons, North Korea, , , , , , , ,
Unless you’re working in the field, you probably never heard about U.S. nanoweapons. This is intentional. The United States, as well as Russia and China, are spending billions of dollars per year developing nanoweapons, but all development is secret. Even after Pravda.ru’s June 6, 2016 headline, “US nano weapon killed Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, scientists say,” the U.S. offered no response. Earlier this year, May 5, 2017, North Korea claimed the CIA plotted to kill Kim Jong Un using a radioactive nano poison, similar to the nanoweapon Venezuelan scientists claim the U.S. used to assassinate former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. All major media covered North Korea’s claim. These accusations are substantial, but are they true? Let’s address this question.

 

Unfortunately, until earlier this year, nanoweapons gleaned little media attention. However, in March 2017 that changed with the publication of my book, Nanoweapons: A Growing Threat to Humanity (2017 Potomac Books), which inspired two articles. On March 9, 2017, American Security Today published “Nanoweapons: A Growing Threat to Humanity – Louis A. Del Monte,” and on March 17, 2017, CNBC published “Mini-nukes and mosquito-like robot weapons being primed for future warfare.” Suddenly, the genie was out of the bottle. The CNBC article became the most popular on their website for two days following its publication and garnered 6.5K shares. Still compared to other classes of military weapons, nanoweapons remain obscure. Factually, most people never even heard the term. If you find this surprising, recall most people never heard of stealth aircraft until their highly publicized use during the first Iraq war in 1990. Today, almost everyone that reads the news knows about stealth aircraft. This may become the case with nanoweapons, but for now, it remains obscure to the public.

 

Given their relative obscurity, we’ll start by defining nanoweapons. A nanoweapon is any military weapon that exploits the power of nanotechnology. This, of course, begs another question: What is nanotechnology? According to the United States National Nanotechnology Initiative’s website, nano.gov, “Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.” To put this in simple terms, the diameter of a typical human hair equals 100,000 nanometers. This means nanotechnology is invisible to the naked eye or even under an optical microscope.
If the U.S. chooses to use nanoweapons covertly, they most likely will use:

 

  • Toxic nanoparticles – These are toxic particles a nanoscale diameter, which means their surface area to volume ratio is enormous. What makes them extremely effective as a poison is that they are able to cross biological membranes that their bulk counterparts are unable to cross. Therefore, they can be readily absorbed. They are more toxic than their due to the large surface area to volume ratio, which allows them to be extremely chemically reactive.

 

If the U.S. chooses to use nanoweapons in open conflict with North Korea, it will likely be:

 

  • Nanoelectronic Weapon Systems – Nanoelectronics are integrated circuits with features in the nanoscale. Intel is shipping nanoelectronic microprocessors for use in commercial computer applications. Because of their nanoscale features, they are smaller, faster, and use less power to operate. This makes them ideal for military weapon systems, like guided missiles.

 

The U.S. has a formidable nanoweapons arsenal. Even as they use them covertly and in open conflict, it may not be apparent that the technology that underpins the weapons is nanotechnology, thus making them by definition nanoweapons.

 

When will that change? It will change when something big happens. Imagine billions of toxic nanoparticles released on an adversary’s army, causing death and chaos. This would significantly reduce the adversary’s military effectiveness. In all likelihood, it may take weeks or months for the adversary to determine the cause. Imagine millions of nanobots attacking an adversary’s army, again causing death and chaos. In effect, killer insect-like nanobots would be a technological plague.

 

Ironically, the next big thing in military weapons is small. Barely mentioned in the media, nanoweapons are as effective and lethal as their larger more visible counterparts. In time, a nation’s military might will be a measure of its nanoweapons capabilities, as well as it nuclear and more conventional capabilities. In fact, by the second half of this century, nanoweapon capabilities are likely to determine the superpowers.
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North Korea Blames US for Hostile Tensions – Pyongyang Vows Response

Categories, nanotechnology, Nanoweapons, North Korea, War, , , ,

The Korean Central News Agency released a commentary Friday titled, “Who Is Chiefly to Blame for Plagued Situation on Korean Peninsula,” in which blames the US with bringing the region to the brink of nuclear war. It also vows to continue its preparations for a nuclear war.

A nuclear war between the US and North Korea would be a worldwide nightmare, which could open the door to a larger theater conflict with China and Russia. Even if the US refrains from using nuclear weapons, analysts project that a war between North Korea and the United States, along with its allies, could take months to conclude. In those months, North Korea is likely to respond in a number of ways. To understand their potential responses, we need to examine their military capabilities.

Nuclear Weapons and Missiles  

North Korea has between 13-21 nuclear weapons, similar to the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. In other words, their nuclear weapons are physically large, unlikely to fit on a missile, and measured in kilotons of TNT, not megatons like those of the United States and Russia. Nonetheless, US nuclear weapons during World War II killed 250,000 Japanese. Therefore, if they find any way to deliver their nuclear weapons, millions could die.

One way that North Korea may attempt to deliver its nuclear weapons is by ballistic missiles. North Korea’s missile arsenal includes artillery rockets, derived from World War II designs, to medium-range missiles, of questionable reliability, able to strike targets in the Pacific Ocean. While this appears relatively crude by US military standards, it still presents a threat to the Asian region, even if the missiles only use conventional explosives. Some analysts suggest that North Korea may be intentionally making small atomic bombs, similar to the tactical nuclear weapons of the United States and Russia, to enable deployment in their medium range missiles. Tactical nuclear weapons have a multi-kiloton punch that could devastate cities like Seoul and Tokyo, killing millions.

In 2012, North Korea began parading its intercontinental ballistic missiles, the KN-08 and KN-14, carried and launched by specifically built truck. The missiles are in the early development stage and analysts question if North Korea has the capability to target them accurately. However, there is little doubt that North Korea is focusing on building reliable long-range missiles with the capability to reach the mainland United States.

A second way North Korea could deliver its nuclear weapons is by smuggling them out of North Korea in containers on cargo ships. Using this method, North Korea could inflict serious damage and casualties to ports anywhere in the world. Crime syndicates currently use shipping containers to smuggle narcotics, weapons, stolen property, and humans to countries around the world. With over 17 million shipping containers in circulation, it would be hard to detect those that contain a nuclear weapon, especially if the detonation occurs while the container is still aboard the ship.

Military and Conventional Weapons

North Korea has the world’s largest army, the Korean People’s Army (KPA) with 1,106,000 active and 8,389,000 reserve troops, including the world’s largest Special Forces unit. In short, almost every able-bodied male has extensive military training.

However, beyond the military training, a former defector claims that every North Korean soldier spends 60% of their time exposed to a form of “brainwashing.” Most North Koreans join the KPA when are 17 to 18 years old and serve a mandatory 10 years if they are male, 6 years if they are female. At that age, they are highly impressionable and just beginning to form their values and opinions of the world. North Korea tightly controls all communications and they learn protecting their leader, Kim Jung-un, is their sacred duty, and they must obey all commands. This suggests that any invasion of North Korea will meet staunch resistance and may degrade into guerrilla warfare.

North Korea’s diverse conventional weapons arsenal includes approximately 3,700 tanks, 2,100 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, 17,900 artillery pieces, 11,000 anti-aircraft guns, 10,000 shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles and anti-tank guided missiles, 1,600 fighter aircraft, and 1,000 warships, among them 70 submarines, making it the world’s largest submarine fleet.

Given the sheer numbers of their conventional weapons, even a preemptive strike would be unlikely to destroy North Korea’s entire capability. Inevitably, they would strike back. South Korea, Japan, and US forces in the region would be their high priority targets. Since Soul, the capital of South Korea, and its 24 million inhabitants, is less than 40 miles south of the North Korean border, even conventional artillery and rockets have the potential to kill millions.

Asymmetrical Weapons

In 2014, the South Korean Defense Ministry estimated that North had stockpiled 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons and had a capacity to produce a variety of biological weapons.

North Korea’s tons of chemical weapons include nerve, blister, blood, and vomiting agents, as well as some biological weapons, including anthrax, smallpox, and cholera. North Korea could deliver the chemical and biological weapons via artillery and missiles. They have missiles capable of reaching targets in South Korea and Japan.

It is also possible that North Korea has already smuggled biological weapons into the countries they consider adversarial. Given the “brainwashing” of their soldiers, North Korea could launch “kamikaze” style attacks, sending infected agents to mingle with the adversary’s populace.

North Korea is a signatory to the Geneva Protocol, which prohibits the use of chemical weapons in warfare, and to the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC), which prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of bacteriological (biological) and toxin weapons. However, there is already evidence they will not adhere to either treaty. For example, evidence suggests North Korea is responsible for the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam, who was critical of Kim Jong-un’s regime. Authorities allege that North Korean agents sprayed VX nerve agent in Kim Jong-nam’s face, causing his death.

The Geneva Conventions, which establish the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war, does not cover nanoweapons. In my book, Nanoweapons: A Growing Threat To Humanity (Potomac Books 2017), I made the observation that China’s offensive nanoweapons capabilities may benefit from their alliance with North Korea and vice versa. Therefore, North Korea could deploy the simplest of nanoweapons, such as toxic nanoparticles, which mimic chemical weapons, and still be within the standards of international law.

Conclusions

Any conflict with North Korea is likely to trigger them to use all weapons at their disposal. Such a conflict would leave a million dead.

Efforts to unify the North and South would face extreme ideological barriers. All communication in the North vilifies its adversaries and raises Kim Jung-un to the level of a deity.

Any war with North Korea may open the door to a wider conflict. The Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty bind China and North Korea, which includes provisions for either country to come to the aid of the other in the event of an attack.

 

 

 

 

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North Korea Accuses US/South Korea of ‘Nano Poison’ Plot to Kill Kim Jong Un

Categories, nanotechnology, Nanoweapons, North Korea, Political, , ,

In a 1,800-word report Friday (May 5, 2017), which offered no evidence, the North Korean state news agency KCNA said a “terrorist group” conspired with the CIA and South Korea’s Intelligence Service (IS) to assassinate its leader Kim Jong Un using a “biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance.”

This is the second time the United States has been accused of using a nanoweapon to kill a head of state. Pravda, Russia’s state run newspaper ran this headline on June 6, 2016: “US nano weapon killed Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, scientists say.”

Obviously, nanoweapons (also spelled nano weapons) are beginning to become part of the international vocabulary. Unfortunately, most in the US have never heard of nanotechnology, let alone nanoweapons. Therefore, let us define terms.

According to the United States National Nanotechnology Initiative’s website, nano.gov, “Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.” To put this in simple terms, the diameter of a typical human hair equals 100,000 nanometers. Therefore, the largest nanotechnology has a dimension that is over a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. This means nanotechnology is invisible to the naked eye or even under an optical microscope.

Nanoweapons are any military technology that exploits the power of nanotechnology. To be clear, the weapon itself may be large, but as long as it has one or more components in the nanoscale, it is a nanoweapon.

You may wonder, Why would someone use nano poisons? The size of nanoparticles, the components of a nano poison, allows living tissue to absorb them more readily than other known toxins. Nanoparticles are able to cross biological membranes and access cells, tissues and organs that their larger counterparts cannot. Therefore, nano poisons are more deadly than their bulk counterparts are.

Currently, the United States, China, and Russia are in a frantic nanoweapons arms race. Each country is spending billions of dollars, as they vie for an asymmetrical advantage in nanoweapons. However, each country is keeping its thrusts in nanoweapons secret. For example, in 2000, the United States government launched the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a research and development initiative involving the nanotechnology-related activities of 25 Federal agencies with a range of research and regulatory roles and responsibilities. To date, the US has invested over $20 billion in NNI programs. If you review the NNI website, nano.gov, you will not find the word nanoweapons. However, NNI’s dedicates 15-20% of its budget to DOD programs. In addition, each branch of the US military has its own nanotechnology R&D facility.

While the front-runners in the nanoweapons arms race are the US, China, and Russia, many other nations, even impoverished countries like North Korea, are also taking part. Nanowek.com, the leading nanotechnology portal about nanotechnologies, reports, “All major powers are making efforts to research and develop nanotechnology-based materials and systems for military use.”

You may ask, What fuels the nanoweapons arms race? A new paradigm fuels this race, namely the superpowers of the future will be those nations with the most capable nanoweapons. Five facts support this assertion.

  1. Unlike nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, no international treaties limit the development and deployment of nanoweapons or their use in warfare
  2. Nanoweapons, for example toxic nanoparticles, have the potential to be weapons of mass destruction
  3. Developing nanoweapons is less costly than developing nuclear weapons
  4. Detecting nanoweapons manufacturing facilities is difficult
  5. Detecting the source of a nanoweapons attack is difficult

This suggests the nanoweapons arms race is more problematic than the nuclear arms race. In fact, in my book, Nanoweapons: A Growing Threat To Humanity, I pose a critical question: Will it be possible to develop, deploy and use nanoweapons in warfare, without rendering humanity extinct?

In 2008, experts surveyed at the Global Catastrophic Risk Conference at the University of Oxford cited molecular nanotechnology weapons as having a 5% probability of rendering humanity extinct by the end of this century. By comparison, they rated nuclear war as having a 4% probability. It is natural to wonder, What is it about nanoweapons that makes them even more problematic than nuclear weapons? The simple answer is “control.” Controlling nanoweapons is as problematic as controlling biological weapons.

Let’s illustrate the control issue with a simple example. In the third quarter of the 21st century, self-replicating nanobots, nearly invisible robots able to replicate themselves, will dominate the nanoweapons arsenals of the most capable countries. These self-replicating nanobots will be programmable, among other functions, to attack the populace of another country, via the DNA similarities of the populace. However, what if there is a programming glitch. The self-replicating nanobots could become the equivalent of a biological plague and begin killing all humans indiscriminately.

Nanotechnology is an enabling technology. It enables a trillion dollar worldwide market in commercial products. It also enables nanoweapons, which are being deployed now in the form of integrated circuits that guide missiles, lasers capable of “shooting” down a cruise missile, nano-enhanced explosives with ten time the punch of conventional explosives, to name a few.

Given the potential of nanoweapons to become the ultimate weapons of mass destruction, we need the United Nations and its member countries to enact measures to assure that nanoweapons do not become our final invention.

 

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North Korea’s Chemical Weapons, Biological Weapons, and Nanoweapons

Categories, Nanoweapons, Political, Technology, War, , ,

It may appear unbelievable that a country unable to feed its people or reliably provide basic utilities, like electricity, is able to develop and deploy chemical weapons, biological weapons, and nanoweapons. However, that is the reality.

The US, UN, and world media attention currently focuses on North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests, mainly because they are visible elements of military capability. However, the world’s most secretive nation is not placing all its bets on missiles and nuclear weapons. Let us examine their asymmetrical capabilities in chemical weapons, biological weapons, and nanoweapons.

  • North Korea possesses thousands of tons of chemical weapons, including nerve, blister, blood, and vomiting agents, as well as some biological weapons, including anthrax, smallpox, and cholera.
  • The State Academy of Sciences (SAS) runs 40 research institutes, 200 smaller research centers, a scientific equipment factory, and six publishing houses. The SAS focuses on, among other STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciples, nanotechnology and its application to weapons (i.e., nanoweapons).

You may wonder, How does a nation that is unable to feed its populace or reliably provide a basic utility, like electricity, have the capability to focus on chemical weapons, biological weapons, and nanoweapons? The answer in a single word is Songun.

On August 25, 1960, Kim Jong-il, the then supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly referred to as North Korea, instituted Songun, a “military first” policy. From that time forward, Songun became North Korea’s guiding policy in all matters domestic and foreign.

While the North Korean people may starve or sit in darkness, Songun assures their domestic defense industry, approximately 1,800 underground defense industry plants scattered throughout the country, and the State Academy of Sciences gets priority over all other needs.

Western analysts assess that North Korea’s military capabilities are rudimentary versus those of the United States, and the United States and its allies would prevail in a conflict with North Korea. However, the conflict may take months to conclude. In those months, North Korea’s military could cause the death of millions of people in South Korea and Japan, as well as many of the US forces within the region. In addition, we should assume North Korea would use all weapons at its disposal, including nuclear, conventional, and asymmetrical.

This begs a question, How potent are North Korea’s chemical weapons, biological weapons, and nanoweapons? Unlike conventional weapons, ballistic missiles, and nuclear weapons, it is extremely difficult to analyze asymmetrical weapons capabilities. However, this is what we know.

  • North Korea began its own chemical industry in 1954 and started making chemical weapons from its beginning. In 2014, the South Korean Defense Ministry estimated that North had stockpiled 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons and had a capacity to produce a variety of biological weapons.
  • In my book, Nanoweapons: A Growing Threat To Humanity (Potomac Books 2017), I made the observation that China’s offensive nanoweapons capabilities may benefit from their alliances with North Korea and vice versa. Although, China’s nanoweapons capabilities are inferior to those of the United States, they are still formidable.

North Korea is a signatory to the Geneva Protocol, which prohibits the use of chemical weapons in warfare, and to the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC), which prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of bacteriological (biological) and toxin weapons. However, evidence suggests North Korea is responsible for the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam, who was critical of Kim Jong-un’s regime. Authorities allege that North Korean agents sprayed VX nerve agent in Kim Jong-nam’s face, causing his death. If true, this suggests North Korea is unlikely to abide by the Geneva Protocol or the BTWC.

Unfortunately, the Geneva Conventions, which establish the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war, does not cover nanoweapons. Therefore, North Korea could deploy the simplest of nanoweapons, such as toxic nanoparticles, which mimic chemical weapons, and still be within the standards of international law.

UN sanctions have isolated North Korea to the point that over 90% of their trade is with China, which is critical to maintaining Kim Jong-un’s regime. However, China is becoming friendlier with the US, which North Korea sees as an enemy. Recently, the US and China voted for more UN sanctions against North Korea, and China curtailed its trade with them. Given the beefed-up US military presence in the region and China’s friendlier posture toward the US, North Korean leadership likely feels threatened. If North Korea’s leadership believes they will lose their position of power, they will strike perceived enemies with all capabilities at their disposal. If conflict erupts, expect North Korea to attempt to use its nuclear weapons, its conventional weapons, and its asymmetrical capabilities in chemical weapons, biological weapons, and nanoweapons.

 

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North Korea’s “Super-mighty pre-emptive strike” – More Likely to Come from US after Pence Leaves Region

B-2, Categories, Nanoweapons, Political, War, , , , , , ,

It would be unwise for the United States to preemptively attack North Korea while Vice President Pence is in the Asian region. It would also be suicidal for North Korea to attack any target that would potentially harm Pence. But, when Pence completes his 10 day Asian trip, all elements of a US preemptive strike against North Korea will be in place, namely:

  • Pence will have met with all major stakeholders in the region, including South Korea, Japan, and China, and likely appraised them of US intentions, in an effort to avoid miscommunications if hostilities start
  • Coupled with Pence’s Asian trip, the US will have sent a clear message that it will use its military force when it deems necessary, namely
    • The US Cruise missile attack on Syria’s Shayrat air base, suspected of being the launch site of Syria’s chemical weapons attack
    • The US’s use of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB)  against ISIS’s system of tunnels and caves in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar Province
  • The US antiballistic defense system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (Thaad), deployed in South Korea, will be fully operational
  • The US will have two aircraft carrier strike groups in the region, the USS Ronald Reagan, currently at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, and the Carl Vinson, considered to be the US’s top supercarrier
  • A squadron of Whiteman Air Force Base (in Missouri) B-2 stealth bombers, each loaded with two of the US’s largest bunker buster bombs, the 15-ton GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), will be ready to strike North Korea’s most hardened bunkers

While the news media has given significant coverage of Pence’s Asian trip, the US’s recent use of military force, the deployment of the Thaad missile defense system, and the aircraft striker groups, little has been discussed about B-2 bombers, each able to accommodate a payload of two MOPs. The B-2s have a range of slightly over 6,000 miles. With refueling in flight, the B-2s would be capable of striking North Korea in a round trip from Whiteman Air Force Base.

While recent news coverage of the US MOAB has correctly labeled it the “largest non-nuclear bomb” in the US arsenal, most did not emphasize the MOAB is not a bunker buster. So let’s understand the difference between the MOAB and the MOP.

The Pentagon developed the MOAB for use as an anti-personnel weapon, not as a bunker buster. In fact, the MOAB has a light 2,900 pound aluminum casing surrounding its 9 ton payload and is primarily an air burst munition. As mentioned in my previous Huff Post April 17, 2017 article, “United States ‘Mother Of All Bombs’ And Other Nanoweapons,” the MOAB likely achieves its 11 ton equivalent TNT blast via the use of nanoaluminum. As defined in my book, Nanoweapons: A Growing Threat to Humanity (Potomac 2017), “Nanoweapons are any military technology that exploits the power of nanotechnology.” This means even the largest munition, such as the MOAB, is a nanoweapon if it uses nanotechnology.

In sharp contrast, the MOP is a 15-ton earth/concrete-penetrating weapon, with a classified payload specially developed by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to destroy weapons of mass destruction. I judge the MOP payload also uses a nano-enhanced explosive payload. This is speculation, but considering the military’s decade long experimentation with nano-accelerants to boost conventional explosives, the dots appear to connect.

With the above understanding, it is clear that the first elements of US preemptive strike against North Korea would involve B-2 bombers hammering hardened bunkers thought to be housing nuclear tipped ballistic missiles. Concurringly, the US would also use:

  • Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers, like the USS Lake Champlain in the Carl Vinson supercarrier group, to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles to strike strategic or tactical targets, especially anti-aircraft missile launch sites
  • Carrier launched fighter aircraft to attack North Korean artillery and rocket launchers, once anti-aircraft missile sites have been destroyed
  • Thadd to counter any North Korean attempt to launch its ballistic missiles hidden in its vast mountainous forests
  • US attack submarines to destroy North Korean submarines and warships

The US goal of a preemptive strike would be to prevent North Korea from launching attacks, using artillery and missiles tipped with nuclear, chemical, or conventional warheads, against South Korea, Japan, other targets in the Pacific, including potentially Hawaii and US warships.

Will a US preemptive strike prevent North Korea from launching a counter attack? The answer is probably not completely, considering North Korea has up to 15,000 cannons and missile launchers in hardened bunkers.

A US preemptive strike is almost certain to result in some allied civilian, military, and US casualties. The question is how much, but US intelligence agencies are not providing estimates.

No matter how you view the North Korean problem, it is a nightmare. Even with a relatively successful US preemptive strike, What is the next move? China has about 150,000 troops stationed on the China Korean border. Will they invade North Korea? Will the US invade North Korea? Again, US intelligence agencies are not providing answers.

We know that we cannot allow North Korea to obtain strategic nuclear weapons capable of hitting targets in the US. It is possible that Pence’s visit to the region is to set the stage for a US preemptive strike, by via strategic understandings with South Korea, China and Japan. The US would likely see China as more stable occupying force in North Korea than Kim Jong-un’s regime. President Trump has made it clear to Chinese President Xi Jinping that China’s help in resolving the North Korean problem would lead to a more favorable trade deal with the United States.

When Pence returns to the United States, what he reports to the president is likely to determine the next US move.