Company says President Trump’s Company says President Trump’s « fire and fury » remarks helping fuel run on underground shelters
Interest in underground bunkers has spiked as tensions mount between the United States and North Korea, a California-based business says.
Speaking with KCBS news radio, Ron Hubbard, president of Atlas Survival Shelters, says calls have been flooding in after President Trump threatened Pyongyang Tuesday with “fire and fury.”
“I take that as a preemptive nuclear strike, ” Hubbard said.
The company, which has reportedly built more than 4,000 shelters in 53 countries, is now attempting to deal with the influx of new customers.
“We’ ve sold everything that we got, but we’ re trying to produce as fast as we can, ” Hubbard said.
The company also noted an increase in interest from the Japanese market as well.
Trump’s warning Tuesday came just hours after media reports based on a confidential U. S. intelligence assessment indicated that North Korea had already produced a nuclear warhead capable of fitting atop its intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Pyongyang threatened hours later to fire four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missiles near Guam, home to three U. S. military bases, in response to U. S. B1-B bombers flying in the Korean peninsula.
“The KPA Strategic Force is now carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 in order to contain the U. S. major military bases on Guam including the Anderson Air Force Base, ” a North Korean spokesman said.
North Korea analysts say Pyongyang’s military announcement is unlike any other seen given its specificity.
“North Korea included comments about the prospective trajectory for its launch in detail that I cannot recall seeing in a KCNA statement on a prospective ballistic missile launch to date, ” Ankit Panda, editor at The Diplomat, writes.
“Make no mistake: a salvo launch of four Hwasong-12 IRBMs within tens of kilometers of Guam would be the single most threatening direct action that North Korea would have ever taken against U. S. territory, ” Panda adds. “That has serious implications for U. S. strategic decision-making, allied reassurance toward Tokyo, and even escalation.”
Contact Mikael securely: keybase.io/mikaelthalen Follow @MikaelThalen
