North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised a test of a domestically-made strike drone, Korean media reported.
Photos published by North Korean media on Monday show a white drone with an X-shaped tail and wings crashing into and destroying a target similar to South Korea’s K-2 main battle tank.
Kim, who is pictured behind a desk surrounded by advisers, is modernising his country’s armed forces and developing its weapons capabilities amid rising tensions with Washington and Seoul.
“Kim Jong Un led an on-site test of the capabilities of various drones conducted by the National Defence Academy’s drone research institute on August 24,” the Korean Central Telegraphic Agency (KCTAK) said in a report. KCTAK specifies that the drones are designed to hit targets on land and sea. The drones flew along predetermined routes, recognised the necessary targets and destroyed them.
The North Korean army needs to continue developing drones by incorporating artificial intelligence technology into them, Kim said. The KCTAK quoted him as saying:
We need to actively develop and increase production of not only strategic reconnaissance drones and multi-purpose strike drones, but also various suicide drones for tactical infantry units and special forces.
In early August, North Korea’s border troops received 250 launchers for new tactical ballistic missiles. Kim also took part in the arms transfer ceremony. He inspected the launchers, calling the holding of the ceremony amid the aftermath of the floods that hit the republic in late July “a manifestation of the party’s unshakable will” to push forward “without stagnation and under any circumstances to strengthen the country’s defence capability.”
On July 1, North Korea successfully test-fired the Hwasong-11da-4.5 tactical ballistic missile, capable of carrying an ultra-large warhead weighing up to 4.5 tonnes. The KCTAK noted that the two new missiles were launched at maximum (500 kilometres) and minimum (90 kilometres) ranges to confirm flight stability and hitting accuracy.
