South Korea Develops 'Blackout Bomb' Technology

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — South Korea has developed technology allowing Seoul to create a so-called blackout bomb that could paralyze power systems in North Korea in the event of potential military conflict, local media reported Sunday.

According to the Yonhap news agency, the technology has been developed by the Agency for Defense Development within the framework of the country's Kill Chain preemptive strike system.

The media outlet added that the technology focused on targeting only electric power systems by spreading carbon graphite filaments over electric facilities that disrupt activities of the electric power system.

Recently, the South Korean government announced that it "is closely monitoring the situation, given the possibility of North Korea's provocations around the party anniversary in the North," after reports that North Korea was preparing to launch another ballistic missile. Pyongyang often schedules such tests around important anniversaries. This Sunday marks Kim Jong-il's ascent to general secretary and its ruling party's founding falls on Tuesday, Yonhap said earlier.

The relations between the two Koreas have been tense for decades. The sides have also never signed a peace treaty after the Korean War that took place from 1950-1953. The tensions on the Korean peninsula escalated in recent years against the backdrop of Pyongyang's missile launches and nuclear tests.