North Korean leader Kim Jong-un supervised a demonstration of new exploding drones designed to crash into targets, state media said yesterday, as the US and South Korea engaged in joint military drills.
North Korean test photographs 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.
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Saturday’s test involved various types of drones built to fly different ranges to attack enemy targets on land and sea, and flew along various routes before accurately hitting test targets.
Photo: AFP / KCNA VIA KNS
After the test, Kim pledged to spur the development of drones that explode on impact, conduct reconnaissance or attack targets underwater to boost his nation’s war readiness, adding that North Korea’s military should be equipped with advanced drones “as early as possible,” KCNA said.
The drone test came as the US and South Korean militaries conduct large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, which continue until Thursday. The exercises focus on enhancing their readiness against North Korean threats, and include computer-simulated war games and live-fire training, with a combined aerial drill involving 60 warplanes that began yesterday.
South Korea’s air force said the drill, which began with precision-bombing demonstrations that included South Korean F-35 and F-16 jets, is aimed at coping with North Korean threats posed by drones, cruise missiles and artillery.
The US and South Korea yesterday also began a separate amphibious landing drill involving dozens of aircraft and vessels from their navies and marines, including US F-35 jets and amphibious assault ship the USS Boxer.
South Korea’s military said that the Ssangyong Exercise, which is to continue through Sept. 7, is aimed at sharpening combat interoperability.
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 and that the South Korean military is equipped with systems to detect and intercept them, without providing further details.
Some analysts said that the North Korean drones shown in state media resembled Russia’s Zala Lancet-3 drones, and Lee said that South Korea 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 US. Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin held summits in June and in September last year.
Washington and its allies have accused the nations 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.
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