North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, oversaw a demonstration of the new “suicide drone,” according to official media on Monday. Experts speculated that the weaponry may have originated in Russia.
Images released by state media showed Kim, wearing a cream baker boy hat, grinning as he observed the drones blowing up targets with the help of powerful binoculars.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim stated that in addition to “strategic reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones,” “it is necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones.”
Suicide drones are unmanned, explosive-carrying drones that are intended to intentionally crash into adversary targets, functioning as guided missiles.
According to KCNA, the expanding drone fleet of the nuclear-armed North will “be used within different striking ranges to attack any enemy targets on the ground and in the sea.”
“After flying along different preset routes, all of the drones that North Korea tested on August 24 correctly identified and destroyed the designated targets,” the statement continued.
Kim added that his nation would strive to “introduce artificial intelligence technology into the drone development process proactively.”
The drones in the state media-released photographs bore similarities, according to experts, to the Israeli-made “HAROP” suicide drone, the Russian-made “Lancet-3,” and the Israeli-made “HERO 30.”
These technology may have come to North Korea from Russia, which most likely got them from Iran. Tehran is accused of gaining access to these technologies through hacking or stealing from Israel.
“The suicide drone that looks similar to HAROP can fly over 1000 km (600 miles),” said Cho Sang-keun, a professor at South Korea’s Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
This is a significant threat to South Korea’s national security and its critical facilities, added Cho.
“They are showing off that they have the ability to hit everything from the tactical level to the strategic level.”
“Should there be a provocation or an international conflict, the South Korean army would inevitably sustain significant damage from these suicide drones,” said Cho.
The military of Seoul was unable to fire down the drones that Pyongyang deployed across the border in 2022, claiming they were too small.
To more effectively counter the mounting threat, South Korea established a drone operation command in 2023.
Since the creation of North Korea following World War II, Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies, and their relationship has become even closer with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
North Korea has been charged by the US and South Korea with supplying Russia with weaponry and missiles for its conflict in Ukraine.
