SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for his country to achieve "absolute superiority" in drone technology, speaking as he attended an exhibition and live demonstration of unmanned aeronautical technology, state media KCNA reported on Friday.

The firepower demonstration featured tactical suicide attack drones — munitions designed to loiter over a battlefield before crashing into their targets — alongside tactical cruise missiles, multipurpose drones and 600mm multiple rocket launchers, according to KCNA.

The display underscored Mr. Kim's drive to modernize North Korea's armed forces around drones and artificial intelligence as Pyongyang draws lessons from Russia's war against Ukraine and other conflicts around the world. It comes at a time of heightened friction between the two Koreas, with Seoul vowing a firm response to what it described as North Korean breaches and Pyongyang denouncing joint South Korea-US air defense drills.

Photographs released by KCNA showed unmanned aerial vehicles bearing the North Korean Air Force's emblem at the exhibition, which Mr. Kim attended. Other images appeared to show an unmanned aerial vehicle crashing into a military vehicle and erupting in a ball of flame during the weapons demonstration.

The event followed word from South Korea's military, issued on Thursday, that North Korea had fired around 10 projectiles, including short-range ballistic missiles.

According to KCNA, Mr. Kim said pursuing superiority in drone technology was "an indispensable option" given the changing character of modern warfare. He added that applying high-level AI to unmanned weapons systems should be a top priority for North Korea.

The remarks continue a consistent theme. State media said Mr. Kim ordered mass production of suicide attack drones in November 2024, oversaw tests of AI-equipped versions in March 2025, and in September 2025 declared AI a top priority in weapons modernization.

Drawing lessons from Ukraine

Since October 2024, North Korea has dispatched more than 16,000 personnel to Russia to support Moscow's war against Ukraine, according to South Korean intelligence, gaining battlefield experience in drone, electronic and combined-arms warfare.

Lim Eul-chul, a professor at South Korea's Kyungnam University, said North Korea is transforming its military with drones and AI while drawing lessons from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. By staging a comprehensive display of weaponry, Mr. Lim said, North Korea is seeking to "shut off the possibility of dialogue or negotiations" with South Korea.

North Korean state media also showed for the first time what analysts described as a tailless, flying-wing stealth drone. Photographs showed racks of small suicide drones and loitering munitions resembling the Switchblade 600, a US-made loitering munition, which analysts said pointed to an emphasis on cheap, mass-produced weapons, potentially informed by lessons from the Ukraine war.

Mock targets shaped like South Korean K9 howitzers, M1 Abrams-type tanks and radar vehicles suggested the weapons were intended for use against South Korean and US forces, the analysts said.

Border tensions

Seoul's national security adviser, Wi Sung-lac, said on Friday that South Korea will respond firmly to protect the military border, despite Pyongyang's assertion that it is conducting operations within its own territory.

Separately, North Korea's Defense Ministry said US and South Korean air defense drills were raising tensions on the peninsula and warned there was "no limit" to its options for maintaining a strong deterrent posture, KCNA reported.

Tensions have escalated since a landmine blast last month inside the Demilitarized Zone — the heavily fortified strip that divides the two Koreas — seriously wounded several South Korean soldiers. Seoul said the blast was caused by a North Korean mine, a claim Pyongyang has denied.

Earlier this month, Mr. Kim's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, said North Korea would activate anti-South Korean propaganda loudspeakers along its entire border by the end of October.

Source: Reuters via Bworldonline