North Korea even closer to making the world go dark.

image source CNBC

Most people are familiar with this image or images similar to it. What it shows is North Korea at night from space. The amazing contrast between Seoul and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) verses Pyongyang and the rest of North Korea is easy to see (or not to see). North Korea is in the dark, except for Pyongyang. All around North Korea, in China and South Korea, there is light, which illuminates the progress made in modernization for the world, while North Korea stays still in time.

This morning, North Korea launched a missile that went 600 miles. According to North Korea, this was a test of an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) and it was successful. Even though it only flew 600 miles, due to the angle at which is was lost, it is estimated that it actually has a range of approximately 3400-4950 miles (5,500 - 8,000 km). More than enough range to hit Alaska.

image source Business Insider

Most main stream media have been focusing on the nuclear capability of the missiles and the low yields of the underground tests. They are missing the point of those test. North Korea was allies with the Soviet Union during the Cold War and when it ended, they managed to gobble up some of the technologies that the USSR was working on. One of the things they were working on was Project K.

The worst effects of a Soviet high altitude test were from the electromagnetic pulse of the nuclear test on 22 October 1962 (during the Cuban missile crisis). In that Operation K high altitude test, a 300 kiloton missile-warhead detonated west of Jezkazgan (also called Dzhezkazgan or Zhezqazghan) at an altitude of 290 km (180 mi).

The Soviet scientists instrumented a 570-kilometer (350 mi) section of telephone line in the area that they expected to be affected by the nuclear detonation in order to measure the electromagnetic pulse effects. The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) fused all of the 570-kilometer monitored overhead telephone line with measured currents of 1500 to 3400 amperes during the 22 October 1962 test. The monitored telephone line was divided into sub-lines of 40 to 80 kilometres (25 to 50 mi) in length, separated by repeaters. Each sub-line was protected by fuses and by gas-filled overvoltage protectors. The EMP from the 22 October (K-3) nuclear test caused all of the fuses to blow and all of the overvoltage protectors to fire in all of the sub-lines of the 570 km (350 mi) telephone line.[2] The EMP from the same test caused the destruction of the Karaganda power plant, and shut down 1,000 km (620 mi) of shallow-buried power cables between Astana (then called Aqmola) and Almaty.

The Partial Test Ban Treaty was passed the following year, ending atmospheric and exoatmospheric nuclear tests.

The USSR wasn't the only country studying the electromagnetic pulse effects of nuclear tests. In 1962 the USA military did Operation Starfish Prime over the Pacific ocean.

Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1,445 kilometres (898 mi) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights,[6] setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link. The EMP damage to the microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands.

These test were of high altitude nuclear bombs, but they ended up discovering something even more dangerous, the electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Ever since those tests in the early 1960s, there have been rumors that the USSR was working on perfecting the EMP output, while lowering the nuclear yield. The benefit of this is obvious. Instead of destroying the USA, the USSR could just simply knock out the USA's electrical and communication grid, which would leave the USA defenseless and economically destroyed.

Since 2001, there has been an Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack, whose duties include:

• the nature and magnitude of potential high-altitude EMP threats to the United States from all potentially hostile states or non-state actors that have or could acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles enabling them to perform a high-altitude EMP attack against the United States within the next 15 years;
• the vulnerability of United States military and especially civilian systems to an EMP attack, giving special attention to vulnerability of the civilian infrastructure as a matter of emergency preparedness;
• the capability of the United States to repair and recover from damage inflicted on United States military and civilian systems by an EMP attack; and
• the feasibility and cost of hardening select military and civilian systems against EMP attack.

They have reported to Congress multiple times that the USA power grid is at risk of an EMP attack. It would only take three high altitude EMP explosions across the USA to completely destroy the power grid. And bringing the power grid back up would be close to impossible. In 2012, the Department of Energy release the "Large Power Transformers and the U.S. Electric Grid" Report, which stated:

Large power transformers are essential critical infrastructure to the electric grid, and are huge, weighing up to 820,000 pounds. If large power transformers are destroyed by a geomagnetic disturbance (GMD) electromagnetic pulse (EMP), cyber-attack, sabotage, severe weather, floods, or simply old age, parts or all of the electric grid could be down in a region for 6 months to 2 years. This is because the USA imports 85% of them...

We do not build the components to fix the power grid if it taken down by an EMP. And if you think the country could go smoothly without power for 6 months to 2 years, then you need to be woken up.

If you want to get an idea of what it might be like, then you need to read the William Forstchen series "One Second After".

It has been discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a realistic look at EMPs and their awesome ability to send catastrophic shockwaves throughout the United States, literally within seconds.

The threat is real.
Kim Jong Un doesn't care about what will happen to his country if he launches an EMP attack.
I would bet that there are more than a few countries that wouldn't care if the USA was knocked back into the dark ages and 80-90% of the residents died within a year.
Congress has ignored this issue for over 15 years and it doesn't matter who is in charge, it will still be ignored.
All you can do, is prepare yourself for the possibility.

EMP/Solar EMP is currently my #1 Doomsday scenario prediction
Mini-Ice Age is #2
Economic Collapse is #3

However, there is a good chance that all three could happen within the next 10 years.

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Let the positive energy sing!

More Power to the Minnows!!