Security forum urges Seoul government to prepare for EMP threats

Defense experts and officials on Tuesday emphasized the importance of devising practical measures to protect Seoul from potential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks from North Korea and to enhance resilience against such threats.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Tuesday delivers welcoming remarks ahead of a security forum hosted by the city government at City Hall in central Seoul. The forum invited around 150 defense experts and officials to discuss measures to protect the capital from potential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks from North Korea. [NEWS1]

Defense experts and officials on Tuesday emphasized the importance of devising practical measures to protect Seoul from potential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks from North Korea and to enhance resilience against such threats.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government hosted its second security forum this year, inviting around 150 experts from government institutes and private companies to assess the city’s ability to respond to EMP threats and address the potential impact of those threats on the people.

EMP attacks can be categorized into nuclear EMP and non-nuclear EMP. Both cause a massive burst of electromagnetic energy that devastates power grids, ultimately shutting down all power and network systems.

“EMP attacks may not be very familiar to the public, but such threats are very likely to occur if any similar situations happen,” said Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon during his welcoming remarks at City Hall in central Seoul.

Oh had earlier emphasized in a Facebook post that he would ensure the city formulates responses against all sorts of terrorism, citing potential nuclear and chemical attacks on Seoul by North Korea.

The forum was held as North Korea said last year that it experimented with a “special functional warhead paralyzing the operation command system,” which some analysts see as a test of a nuclear EMP device.

Lee Sang-min, director of the North Korean military research division at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), who was the keynote speaker of the forum, proposed the so-called Seoul Project to install big caves underground with highly efficient particulate air (HEPA) filters that offer shelters for citizen and protect them from such electromagnetic attacks.

According to Lee, EMP attacks in Seoul can affect the entire peninsula. They can also impact military bases in Pyeongtaek and Osan in Gyeonggi even when EMP weapons are dropped over the East Sea.

Lee also stressed that the city should continuously operate and manage emergency generators in case of emergencies when power systems are paralyzed, referring to how unit 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant did not suffer a meltdown as emergency diesel generators began operating.

Some other measures proposed were decentralizing power systems by converting waste to energy and waste to fuel and diversifying data centers.

Korea has experienced multiple instances of data center blackouts and network system collapses, including when a fire broke out at Kakao’s data center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, last year.

Participants in the forum emphasized that raising awareness of such potential threats among the public and rolling out guidelines by the central government are some initial steps the city government needs to work on. Another significant proposal was forming a committee focusing on EMP threats within the city government.

“It is crucial that we draw up plans that assess the hypothetical situation where major facilities in the city are paralyzed, with the capital hyperconnected with the latest technology and network,” Oh said.

“We will diligently monitor the rapidly changing international situation and security conditions and aim to raise awareness among citizens to strengthen Seoul's defense system.”

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]