North Korea tests attack drones, cruise missiles and 600 mm rocket launchers

A demonstration of drones, missiles and rocket launchers

North Korea tested attack drones, cruise missiles and multiple rocket launchers during a military demonstration, the state news agency KCNA reported on Friday, 30 October. The drones included explosive attack models and multi-purpose drones that fire air-to-surface missiles, and the launchers fired 600 mm rockets. According to KCNA, the drones and cruise missiles struck a target on an island with total precision. Kim Jong Un attended the test together with several of his generals, and KCNA photographs show unmanned aircraft carrying the emblem of the North Korean air force.

Kim's call for AI and drone superiority

Kim argued that absolute superiority in drone technology is indispensable as the nature of modern warfare changes, according to KCNA. He also stressed that advanced artificial intelligence built into unmanned weapons systems should be a top priority for modernising the North Korean armed forces, according to the same account. KCNA quoted him on the purpose of this military buildup:

“Force means peace, and peace is guaranteed only by force.”

The demonstration follows a series of announced weapons tests, including a new type of precision torpedo that uses artificial intelligence in its guidance and target detection systems. Pyongyang has presented its AI-guided weapons as central to its modernisation drive, and the drone push is the latest step in that effort.

Missile launches and the wider tensions

South Korea reported on Thursday, 29 October, that North Korea had fired about ten short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, the day before the drone demonstration was announced. Tensions between the two Koreas have risen since mines exploded on the border on 21 September. North Korea had earlier announced a successful test of a hypersonic intermediate-range missile that uses AI to adjust its trajectory at low altitude, which it made public in early October. On 14 October, Pyongyang tested two types of strategic cruise missiles launched from submarines, according to KCNA.

What remains unconfirmed

According to the reporting, no link has been established between the drone demonstration and the short-range missile launch that South Korea announced a day earlier. The performance and precision claims, including the strike on the island target, come from KCNA's account of the event. The figures on the missiles fired and on the drone trials come from the South Korean side and from North Korean state media, and the sources do not provide independent confirmation of their details.