North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for rapidly expanding the country’s drone technology and observed tests of various weapons, State media reported on Friday, as his nation remains embroiled in a standoff with rival South Korea along their heavily fortified border.
Acquiring advanced drones is a top priority for Kim, who now wants to beef up both conventional and nuclear capabilities. Experts say his troops dispatched to Russia to support its war against Ukraine have likely gained valuable expertise on drone warfare from Russian forces and related battlefield experiences. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim on Thursday visited an exhibition of a variety of attack and other drones that show recent achievements in the field of unmanned aeronautical technology. In a speech at the exhibition, Kim stressed the need to seize “the absolute superiority in the drone technology” and announced unspecified steps needed to “rapidly expand and strengthen the unmanned aeronautical technology,” KCNA said.
To mark the event, KCNA said that North Korea later conducted test-launches of various drones.
KCNA photos showed Kim watching soaring weapons or him clenching his fist while his teenage daughter was clapping her hands beside him. South Korea’s spy agency assesses that the girl, reportedly about 13, is likely Kim’s heir.