SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a drone-only exhibition, apparently the first of its kind in the North, and called for rapidly expanding the country’s drone technology, state media reported Friday, as his military escalates threats against South Korea and the U.S.
Acquiring advanced drones is a top priority for Kim, who now wants to beef up both conventional and nuclear capabilities. Experts say his troops sent to Russia to support its war against Ukraine likely gained valuable expertise on drone warfare from Russian forces and their own battlefield experiences.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim on Thursday visited an exhibition of attack and other drones that show recent achievements in the field of uncrewed aeronautical technology.
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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.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it appeared to be North Korea’s first exhibition exclusively dedicated to drone technology. South Korean media reported the exhibition displayed more than 30 kinds of drones including stealth drones and first-person-view attack drones.
To mark the event, KCNA said North Korea conducted test-launches of various drones, missiles and weapons from the 600 mm-caliber ultraprecision multiple rocket launchers. 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.
South Korea’s military earlier said it detected the launches of about 10 short-range ballistic missiles off the North’s east coast on Thursday. They were North Korea’s first ballistic weapons firings in 17 days.
Tensions between the two Koreas are running high since last month’s land mine blasts at their border that wounded three South Korean soldiers. Seoul accused North Korea of burying the mines south of the military demarcation line and demanded an apology. But Pyongyang has denied responsibility for the explosions and warned of retaliation if provoked.
Last week, North Korea threatened to resume propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts and place new weapons systems along the border.
North Korea’s Defense Ministry on Friday slammed an ongoing U.S.-South Korea combined aerial exercise as “provocative” and warned it was increasing the danger of an armed conflict. South Korea’s military earlier said the two-week biannual Freedom Flag drill was to run until Nov. 6 and was meant to improve combined operational capabilities. It said aerial assets like fighter jets, helicopters and drones would be mobilized.
North Korea has pulled out of talks with the U.S. and South Korea after Kim’s high-stakes diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019. In recent weeks, North Korea has dialed up weapons testing activities in a likely attempt to boost its leverage in potential diplomacy with the U.S. after Trump expressed his eagerness to restore talks with Kim.
On Saturday, Kim made a surprise visit to a Chinese border town via a newly opened bridge and vowed to develop bilateral ties. Kim has recently taken steps to cement ties with China, North Korea’s economic pipeline, after years of prioritizing ties with Russia, including by supplying thousands of troops and ammunitions likely in return for economic and military assistance.
Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis arrived in North Korea on Thursday to see the reopening of Switzerland’s diplomatic office in Pyongyang and meet North Korean officials. He is travel on to South Korea on Friday.
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