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A precision digital weapon reportedly created by the US and Israel to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program had a fraternal twin that was designed to attack North Korea’s nuclear program as well, according to a new report.
The second weapon was crafted at the same time Stuxnet was created and was designed to activate once it encountered Korean-language settings on machines with the right configuration, according to Reuters. But the operation ultimately failed because the attackers were unable to get the weapon onto machines that were running Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
WIRED reported back in 2010 that such an operation against North Korea would be possible in light of the fact that some of the equipment used by the North Koreans to control their centrifuges—the devices used to turn uranium hexafluoride gas into nuclear-bomb-ready fuel—appeared to have come from the same firms that outfitted the Iranian nuclear program.
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/us-tried-stuxnet-north-koreas-nuclear-program/
Related: North Korean Defector Warns that Hackers Could Kill.
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:10AM
So, by American's own standard, they have committed an "Act of war" against N.K. already.
Who will go to jail for committing an act of war against a country that the Congress had not declared war on?
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Monday June 01 2015, @06:49AM
Nobody - and technically it is correct.
The Korean War is still on, only an armistice [wikipedia.org] has been signed at the time.
Officially, NK invalidated the armistice and entered a state of war with South Korea [bbc.com] (March 2013) - even advising US of preemptive nuclear strikes [theguardian.com].
Come on, it only happened 2 years ago, this is how short the memory has become? Yes, I know it's likely to be posturing, but still.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:52AM
No, they tried to commit an act of war, but didn't succeed.
To make an analogy: If you send a cruise missile flying to another country, it's an act of war. If you try to do it, but can't get the missile off ground, it isn't.
(Score: 2) by WizardFusion on Monday June 01 2015, @11:19AM
While true, and I like your analogy, it's the intent that also counts I think.
If they intend to start a war, but can't because 'reasons' then it's still something that should be investigated.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @01:11PM
Or taking your analogy further: if you try to blow up some crowded place but it turns out that your 'friend' who groomed you and told you it was a good idea and handed you the explosives, was an FBI agent in an entrapment scheme, it isn't terrorism... amirite??? And you should go free, right? Right?
Damn apologists
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @01:49PM
In this case, it's more like the missile exploding halfway in mid air, while showing clearly on the foreign nation's radars.
Either way, an attempted act of aggression sounds like an act of war to me. Intent counts.