SEOUL, Aug 26, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - North Korea has unveiled a new "suicide
drone", state media said Monday, with leader Kim Jong Un overseeing a
performance test of the weapons, which experts said could have come from
Russia.

Wearing a cream baker boy hat, Kim was shown beaming as he watched, aided by
high-powered binoculars, as the drones blew up targets, images in state media
showed.

Kim said that "it is necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones",
the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, in addition to
"strategic reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones".

Suicide drones are explosive-carrying unmanned drones designed to be
deliberately crashed into enemy targets, effectively acting as guided
missiles.

The nuclear-armed North's growing drone fleet will "be used within different
striking ranges to attack any enemy targets on the ground and in the sea",
KCNA said.

All the drones North Korea tested on August 24 "correctly identified and
destroyed the designated targets after flying along different preset routes",
it added.

Kim also said his country would work towards "proactively introducing
artificial intelligence technology into the development of drones".

Experts said the drones in the images released by state media looked similar
to the Israeli-made "HAROP" suicide drone, Russian-made "Lancet-3" and
Israeli "HERO 30".

North Korea may have acquired these technologies from Russia, which in turn
likely obtained them from Iran -- with Tehran itself suspected of accessing
them through hacking or theft from Israel.

"The suicide drone that looks similar to HAROP can fly over 1000 km (600
miles)," said Cho Sang-keun, a professor at South Korea's Korea Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology.

This is a significant threat to South Korea's national security and its
critical facilities, added Cho.

"They are showing off that they have the ability to hit everything from the
tactical level to the strategic level."

"Should there be a provocation or an international conflict, the South Korean
army would inevitably sustain significant damage from these suicide drones,"
said Cho.

In 2022, Pyongyang sent drones across the border which Seoul's military was
unable to shoot down, saying they were too small.

In 2023, South Korea launched a drone operation command to better address the
growing threat.

Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea's founding after
World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia's 2022 invasion of
Ukraine.

The United States and South Korea have accused North Korea of providing
ammunition and missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine.