North Korea shows its drone capabilities with explosive exhibition
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SEOUL : Kim Jong Un oversaw a fiery exhibition of North Korea’s latest suicide drones, highlighting the military capabilities that could be honed by his country’s recent troop deployment to the Russian front lines with Ukraine where such aerial attacks are commonplace. Kim, clad in a black leather jacket, rose from a beige-colored suede chair to watch the drones soar into the skies, Pyongyang’s state media reported Friday.
One nosedived into a BMW sedan, and an X-wing drone, similar in build to a Russian model, catapulted into an armored tank. Attack drones have played a crucial role in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, with the unmanned vehicles conducting deadly attacks. They represent a relatively cheap and increasingly effective option for a cash-strapped nation like North Korea, given its technological gap with South Korea and the U.S.
Improving the regime’s limited drone capabilities has been high on Kim’s weapons wishlist. But concerns persist over Moscow’s ability to turn Pyongyang into another drone supplier or help the Kim regime advance its own lineup. At the event Thursday, Kim, the 40-year-old dictator, demanded mass production of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Drones have become an “essential requirement" for militaries around the world, he added. “It is easy to use them as a component of striking power," he said. Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin have fortified military bonds between the two countries over the past year or so.
Moscow can offer weapons know-how that Pyongyang lacks. North Korea is sending munitions, missiles and troops to aid Putin’s war with Ukraine. The tighter relationship has extended to drones.
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