SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a demonstration of new exploding drones designed to crash into targets and pledged to spur development of such weapons to strengthen his military’s war readiness, state media said Monday.
Kim has been flaunting his growing military capabilities amid tensions with Washington and Seoul. North Korean photos of the test showed a white drone with X-shaped tails and wings supposedly crashing into and destroying a target resembling South Korea’s main K-2 battle tank. Most combat drones stand off from targets and fire missiles.
The test, which state media said took place Saturday, came as the U.S. and South Korean militaries are conducting a large-scale exercise aimed at enhancing their combined capabilities to defend against growing North Korean nuclear threats.
The allies said the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, which continue through Thursday, are focused on enhancing their readiness against North Korean threats and will also reflect lessons learned from recent armed conflicts.
The United States and South Korea also on Monday began a separate amphibious landing drill involving dozens of aircraft and vessels from their navies and marines, including U.S. F-35 fighters and the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer. South Korea’s military said the Ssangyong Exercise, which will continue through Sept. 7, is aimed at sharpening combat interoperability.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday’s drone test involved various types of drones built to fly different ranges to attack enemy targets on land and sea. It said the drones flew along various routes before accurately hitting test targets.
Kim said global trends in military technologies and modern combat show the importance of drones in war and that the North’s military should be equipped with advanced drones “as early as possible.”
He called for accelerated development and production of various drones that explode on impact, conduct reconnaissance or attack targets underwater, KCNA said.
Lee Chang Hyun, spokesperson of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing that South Korea’s military was closely examining North Korea’s drone capabilities but did not provide a detailed assessment. He said without elaborating that the South’s military is equipped with systems to detect and intercept such drones.
Some analysts suggest the North Korean drones shown in state media photos resemble Russia’s Zala Lancet-3 drones, and Lee said the South was looking into the possibility that Russia had helped North Korea acquire its drone capability.
“We are aware that during the past exchanges between North Korea and Russia that some (drones) were given (to North Korea) as gifts,” Lee said. “We would need to analyze various aspects, including whether (North Korea) would have modified to improve their capabilities, or other possibilities.”
North Korea and Russia have been aligning closely in the face of their separate confrontations with the United States, with Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin holding back-to-back summits in September last year and June.
Washington and its allies have accused the countries of expanding an alleged arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Putin with badly needed munitions to prolong Russia’s fighting in Ukraine in exchange for economic aid and technologies to upgrade Kim’s nuclear-armed military.
Animosity on the Korean Peninsula is high as Kim uses Russia’s war against Ukraine as a distraction while he strengthens his military and issues verbal threats of conflict toward Washington and Seoul.
While most of the international attention has been focused on his long-range missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland, Kim has also been expanding weapons targeting rival South Korea, most notably short-range missiles and artillery systems that the North has described as nuclear-capable.
Earlier this month, Kim staged a huge ceremony in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, to mark the delivery of 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units and called for a ceaseless expansion of the military’s nuclear program.
The event added to concerns about Kim’s weapons program as he demonstrates an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the North’s border with South Korea and claims his military could react with preemptive nuclear strikes if it perceived the leadership was under threat.
Analysts say Kim may seek to dial up pressure in a U.S. election year as he advances his long-term goals of forcing Washington to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and being able to negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength.
