1 of 4 | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversees a performance test of various drones during a visit to the Drone Institute of North Korea’s Academy of Defense Sciences at an undisclosed location in North Korea, state media reported Monday. Photo by KCNA/EPA-EFE
SEOUL, Aug. 25 (UPI) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a demonstration of exploding “suicide” drones, state-run media reported Monday, while U.S. and South Korean troops continued large-scale joint military drills on the peninsula.
During the test, which was held Saturday, drones of various types “all correctly identified and destroyed the designated targets after flying along different preset routes,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
Photos carried by KCNA showed a white attack drone crashing into and destroying what appears to be a replica of a South Korean K-2 battle tank.
Such weapons, also known as “kamikaze drones” or “loitering munitions,” have seen heavy use on the battlefield in Ukraine, from U.S.-supplied Switchblade drones to Russia’s Zala Lancet and Iranian Shahed drones.
Kim said the drones take “an important share in preparing for a war in view of the trend of world military science and combat experience on battlefields,” according to KCNA.
“It is necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones of various types to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units, as well as strategic reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones,” Kim said. He also emphasized the need for underwater drones and called for introducing artificial intelligence technology into drone development.
North Korea has expanded its weapons program since Kim outlined a five-year wish list at a January 2021 party congress. Among the weapons he called for were “unmanned striking equipment” and reconnaissance drones, which were first unveiled at a military parade in July 2023.
Pyongyang sent several drones into South Korean airspace in December 2022, with one briefly entering the no-fly zone near the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday it was monitoring the North’s latest weapons developments and was prepared to counter its unmanned aerial vehicles.
“Our military is thoroughly equipped with a detection and interception system for North Korea’s UAVs,” JCS spokesman Lee Chang-hyun said at a press briefing.
Local analysts noted the visual similarities between the new North Korean weapons and Russian and Iranian drones, and Lee was asked whether there was any evidence of an exchange.
“We know that in the past, some gifts [of drones] were given in exchanges between North Korea and Russia,” Lee said. “We need to analyze whether those things have been improved in performance or in various other ways.”
Pyongyang and Moscow have strengthened their military cooperation in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signing a mutual defense treaty in June.
In a separate briefing, a spokesman for the South’s Unification Ministry, which oversees inter-Korean affairs, said it was the first time that the North has unveiled self-destructing drones.
The test comes as the United States and South Korea continue their 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise.
The large-scale drills, which run until Thursday, are focused on North Korean nuclear and missile threats as well as more recent developments such as GPS jamming and cyber-attacks, both militaries said last week.
The allies started a concurrent three-day live-fire air exercise off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula on Monday, the South Korean Air Force said in a press release. Some 60 military aircraft, including South Korea’s F-35A, F-15K and KF-16 fighters and U.S. A-10 attack aircraft are taking part in the drills.
South Korean and U.S. marines and naval forces also kicked off a separate large-scale amphibious landing exercise Monday in the southeastern city of Pohang.
The Ssangyong, or Double Dragon, landing exercise entails division-level forces deployed on some 40 vessels and will run through Sept. 7. The drills will also incorporate some 40 aircraft and 40 amphibious assault vehicles, the South’s Defense Ministry said in a release.
Pyongyang frequently condemns the allies’ joint drills as preparation for an invasion and maintains that its own nuclear and weapons programs are a necessary form of deterrence.