South Korea Develops Garphite Bomb To Blackout North

South Korea has developed technologies to build a graphite bomb which can paralyze the North's power systems in case of war, military sources told Yonhap News Sunday.

The graphite bomb, also called "blackout bomb" works by spreading chemically treated carbon graphite filaments over electric facilities to short-circuit and disrupt the power grid.

The weapon has been developed by the Agency for Defense Development as key part of South Korea's pre-emptive strike program called Kill Chain. "All technologies for the development of a graphite bomb led by the ADD have been secured. It is in the stage where we can build the bombs anytime," an unnamed military official was quoted as saying.

The defense ministry had requested next year's budget include 500 million won ($436,000) for the project but the finance ministry did not accept it, he added. However, the official did not elaborate how the bomb was developed without budgetary allocation.

The bomb is only affects targeted electrical power systems. It was first used by the US against Iraq in the 1991-92 Gulf War and again by NATO against Serbia in 1999.