SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for his country to seize “absolute superiority” in drone technology as he attended an exhibition and demonstration of unmanned aeronautical technology, state media KCNA reported on Friday.
The firepower demonstration featured tactical suicide attack drones, tactical cruise missiles, multipurpose drones and 600mm multiple rocket launchers, KCNA said.
The display highlighted Mr. Kim’s push to modernize North Korea’s armed forces by using drones and artificial intelligence as Pyongyang draws lessons from Russia’s war against Ukraine and other global conflicts.
It came amid heightened tensions between the two Koreas, with Seoul vowing to respond firmly to what it called North Korean breaches, and Pyongyang denouncing joint South Korea-US air defense drills.
KCNA photographs showed unmanned aerial vehicles bearing the North Korean Air Force’s emblem at the exhibition, attended by Mr. Kim.
Other images showed what appeared to be an unmanned aerial vehicle crashing into a military vehicle and exploding in a ball of flame during a weapons demonstration.
South Korea’s military said on Thursday that North Korea had fired around 10 projectiles, including short-range ballistic missiles.
Mr. Kim said that pursuing superiority in drone technology was “an indispensable option” given the changing nature of modern warfare, according to KCNA.
He also said using high-level AI in unmanned weapons systems should be a top priority for North Korea, KCNA reported.
Mr. Kim has repeatedly called for the development of drones and military AI. State media said Mr. Kim ordered mass production of suicide attack drones in November 2024, oversaw tests of AI-equipped versions in March 2025 and in September 2025 called AI a top priority in weapons modernization.
DRAWING LESSONS FROM UKRAINE WAR
Since October 2024, North Korea has sent more than 16,000 personnel to Russia to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine, and gained battlefield experience in drone, electronic and combined-arms warfare, according to South Korean intelligence.
North Korea is transforming its military with drones and AI, drawing lessons from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea’s Kyungnam University.
By showing a comprehensive display of weapons, North Korea is trying to “shut off the possibility of dialogue or negotiations” with South Korea, Mr. Lim said.
North Korean state media also displayed for the first time what analysts described as a tailless, flying-wing stealth drone.
Photographs showed racks of small suicide drones and loitering munitions similar to the US Switchblade 600, suggesting an emphasis on cheap, mass-produced weapons, potentially drawing on lessons from the Ukraine war, analysts said.
Mock targets resembling South Korean K9 howitzers, M1 Abrams-type tanks and radar vehicles suggested the weapons were intended for use against South Korean and US forces, they said.
BORDER TENSIONS
South Korea will respond firmly to protect the military border despite Pyongyang’s assertion that it is conducting operations within its territory, Seoul’s national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said on Friday.
Separately, North Korea’s Defense Ministry said US and South Korean air defense drills were raising tensions on the peninsula and that there was “no limit” to its option for maintaining a strong deterrent posture, KCNA reported.
Tensions have escalated since a landmine blast inside the Demilitarized Zone seriously wounded several South Korean soldiers last month. Seoul said the blast was caused by a North Korean mine, which Pyongyang has denied.
Mr. Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, said earlier this month that North Korea would activate anti-South Korean propaganda loudspeakers along its entire border by the end of October. — Reuters
