North Korea displays drones, missiles as Kim urges AI weapons push

SEOUL: North Korea has test-fired attack drones, missiles and a multiple rocket launcher at a weapons demonstration, state media reported on Friday (Oct 30), as leader Kim Jong Un called for faster development of drone and AI technology for military use.

The event came a day after Seoul said Pyongyang had fired “around a dozen” short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast, though it was not immediately clear whether the launches were linked to the demonstration.

At the event, Kim stressed the "aim to seize the absolute superiority in the drone technology is an indispensable option in the light of the ever-changing patterns of modern warfare," according to KCNA.

He added: "Strength precisely means peace and peace is guaranteed only by strength."

The demonstration featured suicide attack drones, multipurpose drones firing air-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles and 600mm multiple rocket launchers. KCNA said the drones and cruise missiles hit an island target with 100 per cent accuracy.

The event follows a slew of recent weapons tests by Pyongyang, including a new precision-guided torpedo system and an intermediate-range hypersonic missile, both of which were said to employ AI technology.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military detected "around a dozen short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Wonsan area of North Korea towards the East Sea", also known as the Sea of Japan.

The missiles flew about 250km, and "South Korea and the United States are conducting a detailed analysis of their exact specifications", Seoul's military said, adding it had stepped up surveillance of possible additional launches.

Seoul's National Security Office, meanwhile, said the launches violated UN Security Council resolutions, labelling them "serious acts that do nothing to help manage the current situation".

Thursday's missile flurry comes against the backdrop of growing tensions over a landmine explosion along the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas that saw three South Korean soldiers wounded.

A joint Seoul-UN investigation earlier this month concluded that North Korea planted the landmines over a year ago.

Seoul accused Pyongyang of "a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement" and demanded an apology, something the North has mockingly dismissed.

“SHOW OF FORCE” 

Last week, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the North would place loudspeakers on standby along the border "within days" and had put unspecified "new counter means" on alert.

Both countries have occasionally turned to loudspeakers blaring propaganda across their shared border and other psychological warfare methods.

South Korea days later proposed military talks with the North to "mutually confirm the precise location" of their border and discuss restoring communication channels, but Pyongyang has yet to respond.

The DMZ is one of the world's most heavily fortified frontiers, and landmine incidents have previously heightened tensions.

Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war, as the Korean conflict ended in 1953 with a truce rather than a peace treaty.

The ratcheting tensions come as US President Donald Trump's recent overtures to North Korea have raised concerns that Seoul - an ally of Washington - could be sidelined in potential nuclear talks involving Pyongyang.

In his most recent comments, Trump seemingly downplayed the possibility of a summit while insisting his relationship with Kim Jong Un was "very good".