North Korea’s Kim orders mass production of attack drones: State media

The unmanned drones are designed to carry explosives and can hit land and sea targets.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for accelerating the mass production of attack drones, according to state media, as international concerns mount over the country’s deepening military cooperation with Russia.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that Kim supervised the latest tests of “various types of suicide attack drones” produced by Pyongyang’s Unmanned Aerial Technology Complex.

The unmanned drones can hit land and sea targets, effectively acting as guided missiles.

Kim “underscored the need to build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production”, noting how drones are becoming crucial in modern warfare as he oversaw the tests on Thursday, KCNA said.

North Korea first unveiled its suicide drones in August and military experts said the capability could be attributed to the country’s growing alliance with Russia, with both sides signing a mutual defence pact.

The drones, also known as loitering munitions, have emerged as important weapons of war as they can attack tanks and other targets at relatively low cost. They have been used in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The drones tested on Thursday “precisely” hit targets after flying along predetermined paths, KCNA reported.

On Monday, Kim signed a decree ratifying the landmark Treaty of Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships, a mutual defence pact with Russia. It obliges both countries to provide immediate military assistance to each other using “all means” necessary if either faces “aggression”.

North Korea has deployed some 10,000 soldiers to Russia to fight in Ukraine, their presence confirmed by NATO, the United States, Ukraine and South Korea.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also warned about the potential transfer of sensitive Russian military technology to North Korea.

“The competition for using drones as the main means of military capabilities … is being accelerated in the world,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Pyongyang had “recently attached importance” to developing unmanned hardware systems and to integrating them with the country’s overall military strategy, Kim said.

North Korea has sent drones across the border to the South, flying for hours in key areas including the capital, Seoul, and over the no-fly zone surrounding the South Korean presidential office.

The North has also continued to carry out ballistic missile tests in defiance of United Nations sanctions, and last month blew up its roads and railways linking it to the South.