SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed tests of newly developed reconnaissance and attack drones this week and called for their increased production, state media said Thursday.
Kim has been emphasizing the development of drones, and the tests were the latest display of his country’s growing military capabilities.
Photos released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency showed Kim observing what appeared to be a large reconnaissance drone roughly resembling Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail airborne warning and control aircraft. Other images showed exploding drones crashing into military vehicles used as targets.
The agency said the test demonstrated the reconnaissance drone’s ability to track multiple targets and monitor troop movements on land and at sea, potentially enhancing North Korea’s intelligence-gathering operations and ability to neutralize enemy threats. The report said the new exploding drones were designed for various attack missions and featured unspecified artificial intelligence capabilities.
Kim expressed satisfaction with the drones’ performance and approved plans to expand production, emphasizing that drones and AI should be “top” priorities in efforts to advance his armed forces and adapt them to modern warfare, KCNA said. The agency said the tests took place as Kim visited a drone technology complex and an electronic warfare research group on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The South Korean Defense Ministry did not immediately comment on the North Korean report.
Kim previously inspected other demonstrations of drones that explode on impact in November and August last year.
North Korea also accused South Korea last year of sending its own drones to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets over the North’s capital of Pyongyang, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occurred again. The South Korean military did not confirm whether the North’s claims were true.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated recently as Kim continues to expand his military capabilities, which now include various nuclear-capable weapons targeting South Korea and intercontinental ballistic missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
Kim is also aligning with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, sending troops and military equipment to support Russia’s efforts. This has raised concerns that he may receive Russian technology transfers in return, further strengthening the threat posed by his nuclear-armed military.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a report Thursday that it believes North Korea sent around 3,000 additional troops to Russia in January and February and has continued supplying ammunition, short-range missiles, self-propelled howitzers, and multiple rocket launchers. The Joint Chiefs assessed that, of the approximately 11,000 North Korean troops sent to fight in the war against Ukraine, around 4,000 have been killed or injured.
