- AI Drones as “Top Priority”: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared that rapidly developing artificial intelligence (AI) for unmanned weapons systems is now a “top priority” in modernizing the country’s military aljazeera.com. He also urged “expanding and strengthening” the mass production of military drones aljazeera.com.
- Showcasing New Drones: Kim oversaw tests of new reconnaissance and attack drones on Sept. 18, 2025, including a large UAV resembling a U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk spy drone stripes.com. State media even released images of a one-way “suicide” attack drone striking a target, underscoring Pyongyang’s push to field advanced UAVs stripes.com.
- North Korea’s Existing Arsenal: North Korea already wields nuclear-armed ballistic and cruise missiles, a growing nuclear warhead stockpile, and even a nascent military spy satellite program aljazeera.com. Its standing army is huge – about 1 million active troops plus 7 million reservists aljazeera.com – though its air force and navy are aging and outmatched by rivals warontherocks.com.
- AI Capabilities Uncertain: Analysts note North Korea’s level of AI development remains unclear. A 38 North report found Pyongyang has engaged in secret AI research collaborations with academics in China, the U.S. and South Korea despite sanctions aljazeera.com, relying heavily on Chinese technology to try to catch up in the AI race aljazeera.com.
- Prior Emphasis on Drones: Kim’s 2025 push wasn’t the first sign – in March 2025, he supervised tests of AI-equipped “suicide drones” and stated unmanned systems and AI “must be top-prioritized” in military development reuters.com reuters.com. In mid-2023, North Korea even unveiled two large UAVs mimicking U.S. Reaper and Global Hawk designs (albeit likely with far inferior tech) warontherocks.com.
- Military Pact with Moscow: North Korea’s drone drive is unfolding alongside deepening Russia ties. In 2024, Kim and Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense treaty aljazeera.com, and Pyongyang reportedly sent nearly $10 billion in arms (artillery, rockets, etc.) plus thousands of troops to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine aljazeera.com. In return, North Korea has received food, fuel, some air defense systems, and possibly fighter jets aljazeera.com – but only a fraction of the value it gave aljazeera.com.
- Global Reactions:Seoul is on alert – South Korean officials note Kim has made multiple visits to drone factories and are monitoring the North’s expanding UAV program stripes.com. U.S. intelligence assesses that North Korea now poses a greater threat than it has in decades, able to strike U.S. forces and allies in Asia aljazeera.com. Meanwhile, Beijing publicly calls for stability but quietly supplies crucial electronics for North Korean and Russian drones jamestown.org, and Moscow has even gifted attack drones to Pyongyang for reverse-engineering warontherocks.com.
- Drone Arms Race: Kim’s announcement comes amid a global race for military AI and drones. China reportedly ordered 1 million+ single-use attack drones for delivery by 2026 businessinsider.com and may soon field the world’s largest, most advanced drone fleet businessinsider.com. Russia is deploying swarms of Iranian-designed kamikaze drones in Ukraine and testing fully AI-guided loitering munitions that autonomously hunt targets jamestown.org. The U.S. and Israel have long been drone leaders – from America’s Predator/Reaper UAVs to Israel’s Harop loitering drones that can find and attack targets autonomously dawn.com dawn.com – and are now integrating AI to stay ahead.
- Rising Security Risks: Experts warn North Korea’s AI-drone push could destabilize regional security. Swarms of low-cost, AI-powered North Korean drones would pose a difficult threat to South Korea, Japan and U.S. forces – potentially evading defenses and magnifying Pyongyang’s ability to coerce neighbors warontherocks.com warontherocks.com. Globally, the prospect of North Korea exporting drones or using autonomous weapons raises urgent ethical and proliferation concerns dawn.com jamestown.org.
Background: North Korea’s Military and Tech Capabilities
North Korea’s military has long been formidable on paper, anchored by its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs. As of 2025, the country is estimated to possess dozens of nuclear warheads and an array of short-, medium- and long-range missiles (including ICBMs) that can threaten regional targets and potentially the U.S. mainland aljazeera.com. Pyongyang has also tested cruise missiles and claims the ability to mount nuclear warheads on some of them aljazeera.com. Beyond WMDs, North Korea fields a massive conventional force: some 1,000,000 active-duty soldiers (one of the world’s largest standing armies) plus millions more in reservist militias aljazeera.com. This manpower, however, is equipped with largely outdated Soviet-era tanks, aircraft, and naval vessels. North Korea’s air force, for example, relies on aging fighters from the 1970s-80s, and its navy is relatively small and coastal-focused warontherocks.com.
Given these gaps – especially in airpower and surveillance – unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer Pyongyang an attractive asymmetric tool. Drones can provide an “eye in the sky” for a military that lacks modern satellites and spy planes, and potentially a way to strike or harass enemies without risking its limited pilots or aircraft. In fact, North Korea has been experimenting with drones for years. It initially deployed small reconnaissance UAVs, some of which famously penetrated South Korean airspace. In one incident in December 2022, five North Korean drones crossed the Demilitarized Zone; one even reached the outskirts of Seoul, evading South Korean fighters and attack helicopters sent to intercept warontherocks.com. The South’s failure to shoot down those small drones – despite investing in anti-drone defenses – highlighted how even low-tech UAVs can exploit gaps in advanced militaries’ security warontherocks.com.
Since that 2022 incursion, North Korea’s drone capabilities have advanced rapidly. Under Kim Jong Un’s direction, the country has poured resources into developing larger, longer-range unmanned systems. Notably, on July 27, 2023 (during events marking the 70th Korean War armistice anniversary, with visiting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in attendance), North Korea unveiled two new drone models that closely resembled American designs warontherocks.com. One was a combat drone that looked like a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper – a medium-altitude strike UAV – and the other was a high-altitude surveillance drone mimicking the U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk warontherocks.com. This imitation is likely deliberate. However, analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) assessed that North Korea’s lookalike drones “merely mimic the airframes” of their U.S. counterparts and almost certainly lack the sophisticated sensors and avionics that make Reapers and Global Hawks so effective warontherocks.com. In footage from North Korean state media, the new multi-role drone even test-fired a missile resembling a U.S. AGM-114 Hellfire – possibly reverse-engineered from foreign technology warontherocks.com. Still, showcasing these drones served a propaganda purpose, signaling that Pyongyang is entering the modern drone era, even if the true capabilities remain questionable.
Aside from drones, AI (artificial intelligence) has emerged as a buzzword in North Korea’s strategic plans – though how much substance lies behind it is debatable. North Korean officials have begun referencing AI in the context of military modernization only recently, likely mirroring global trends. Kim’s regime has invested in cyber warfare and electronic warfare units (areas where software expertise is key), but in terms of AI algorithms, machine learning, and autonomous systems, North Korea is thought to be years if not decades behind world leaders due to sanctions and limited tech infrastructure. “The country’s level of AI development is less certain,” Al Jazeera noted bluntly aljazeera.com. There are intriguing clues: an independent analysis by 38 North (a Washington-based think tank) found evidence that North Korean researchers have engaged in academic collaborations across borders – including with scientists in China, South Korea and even the U.S. – on AI topics aljazeera.com. These collaborations, often covert and published in academic journals, suggest Pyongyang has undertaken “substantial efforts” to gain know-how in fields like image recognition, machine learning, and robotics aljazeera.com. Much of this quiet AI research drive has depended on Chinese support, as Beijing is one of the world’s AI powerhouses and has been more willing to supply North Korea with computing equipment and expertise (in defiance of sanctions) aljazeera.com.
North Korea’s pursuit of high-tech military capabilities has also been indirectly aided by its growing strategic ties with Russia. Traditionally, Pyongyang leaned heavily on China for economic and technological lifelines, while Russia’s post-Cold War relationship with North Korea was lukewarm. But under Kim, especially in the last few years, Pyongyang-Moscow cooperation has surged. This was symbolized by a landmark mutual defense treaty that Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in 2024 aljazeera.com – a pact that raised eyebrows worldwide as it formalized military support commitments. The tightening alliance is driven by mutual need: Russia, embroiled in the costly war in Ukraine and isolated by Western sanctions, is eager for artillery shells, rockets, and now drones – commodities that North Korea’s huge munitions industry can provide in bulk. North Korea, in turn, craves food and fuel aid, advanced weapons systems, and diplomatic backing, which Russia can offer. Indeed, a German think tank report cited by Al Jazeera revealed that North Korea has supplied nearly $10 billion worth of arms to Moscow (including large-caliber rockets and artillery) and even sent tens of thousands of North Korean “volunteer” troops to assist Russian forces in Ukraine aljazeera.com. Yet in return, Kim’s regime received at most $1 billion or so in value – mostly in food, oil, and some military hardware like air defense systems and possibly old fighter jets aljazeera.com.
This burgeoning axis with Russia has given North Korea access to battlefield experience and foreign technology that it never had before. North Korean artillery units and infantry deployed to Russia’s side in Ukraine have reportedly been directly engaged in drone warfare on the front lines, learning modern tactics the hard way warontherocks.com warontherocks.com. According to War on the Rocks analysts, 15,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to fight in Ukraine’s Kursk region, ostensibly to gain combat experience and tech know-how for Pyongyang’s benefit warontherocks.com. Those forces suffered heavy losses initially – for instance, Ukrainian drone strikes wiped out dozens of North Korean troops who were unaccustomed to the threat from above warontherocks.com. But they learned quickly and adapted tactics (such as using forward spotters and dispersing into small squads) to counter drones warontherocks.com. More importantly, Russia has been transferring drone technology and training to North Korea as part of their quid pro quo. One example: during Kim’s rare trip to Russia in September 2023, the governor of Primorsky Krai gifted Kim five kamikaze drones and a reconnaissance drone on camera warontherocks.com – a small but telling gesture meant to share modern UAV models. North Korean military delegations have also visited Russian drone training facilities; earlier in 2025 a group of DPRK officials toured a Technopark for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Moscow, receiving briefings on drone pilot training and likely making industry contacts warontherocks.com. In February 2025, Moscow reportedly agreed to provide North Korea technical assistance for mass-producing multiple types of drones warontherocks.com, and there were even talks of sending 25,000 North Korean workers to Russian drone factories in exchange for training and technology transfers warontherocks.com. All these developments mean that despite being economically sanctioned and relatively isolated, North Korea’s military is drawing on outside expertise from two major powers (China and Russia) in its pursuit of AI and drone capabilities.
In short, by mid-2025 North Korea possesses a powerful but imbalanced military – nuclear-tipped missiles and huge ground forces on one hand, but obsolete aircraft and limited reconnaissance assets on the other. Kim’s strategy to close that gap is to leapfrog into the age of autonomous, unmanned systems. With foreign partnerships helping to circumvent some technological limitations, Pyongyang is betting that drones and AI are the keys to amplifying its strength without breaking the bank. This context sets the stage for Kim’s headline-grabbing announcement in September 2025 that AI-driven drone development will be a “top priority” going forward.
Kim’s September 2025 Announcement: AI Drones as “Top Priority”
Kim Jong Un’s declaration on September 19, 2025 that AI-powered military drones are now a top national defense priority made waves globally. The announcement came via North Korea’s state media (KCNA) and was reported by outlets like Al Jazeera and others aljazeera.com. According to these reports, Kim visited the Unmanned Aeronautical Technology Complex in Pyongyang on Thursday, Sept. 18 – essentially North Korea’s key UAV research & production center – to inspect the latest progress. There, he presided over flight tests of various new unmanned aircraft, including “multipurpose drones and unmanned surveillance vehicles,” as per KCNA aljazeera.com. Photos released by the official newspaper Rodong Sinmun showed Kim watching a large strategic reconnaissance drone in flight aljazeera.com. Notably, one image (via KCNA/AFP) depicted a bulky, long-winged drone with a bulbous nose and belly sensor dome, which closely resembles the U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk spy drone, even down to its landing gear and overall shape stripes.com. Kim was shown standing next to this sizable UAV, underscoring the regime’s pride in its new hardware stripes.com.
During the visit, Kim Jong Un emphasized a few key directives. First, he ordered the “rapid development” and integration of the “newly introduced artificial intelligence technology” into North Korea’s unmanned weapons systems – framing AI as a game-changer for military power aljazeera.com. He explicitly called this a “top priority” for the armed forces’ modernization aljazeera.com. In practical terms, that likely means instructing North Korean defense scientists to incorporate AI algorithms for target recognition, autonomous navigation, and swarm coordination in their drones. Second, Kim urged the expansion of serial production of drones – i.e. to mass-produce UAVs at scale aljazeera.com. Up to now, North Korea’s indigenous drone projects were probably small-batch or prototype-level; Kim signaled it’s time to shift into high gear and turn these designs into large quantities of deployable weapons. He linked these efforts directly to preparing for “modern warfare”, where he noted drones and AI are increasingly crucial stripes.com stripes.com. In state media parlance, he described the mass production of drones and AI as an “important task in modernizing the armed forces” of North Korea stripes.com.
This high-profile guidance from Kim in September 2025 did not emerge in a vacuum – it followed a series of earlier hints and actions by Pyongyang that foreshadowed the pivot to AI and drones. In fact, Kim had voiced very similar sentiments just six months prior. In March 2025, North Korean media announced that Kim oversaw tests of new “AI-equipped suicide drones” (loitering munitions) and upgraded reconnaissance drones reuters.com. At that time, KCNA quoted Kim stating “the field of unmanned equipment and artificial intelligence should be top-prioritized and developed” as part of modernizing the military reuters.com. That March test also coincided with North Korea officially unveiling an airborne early-warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft for the first time reuters.com – a modified Soviet-made Il-76 plane with a radar dome, intended to improve North Korea’s air defense radar coverage. While not directly related to drones, the AEW&C debut underscored the regime’s focus on modern tech to overcome traditional weaknesses (in this case, radar coverage and aircraft detection) reuters.com. During the same March 2025 inspection, Kim looked at other new equipment for electronic warfare, reconnaissance, and targeting reuters.com. Photos from that event showed a North Korean fixed-wing drone homing in on a mock tank and then exploding in a fireball – a demonstration of a one-way attack drone in action reuters.com. Kim walking with the large Global Hawk-like drone in the background was also noted then reuters.com. All of this signaled early on that Kim was serious about drones and even AI (at least rhetorically) as pillars of his military build-up in 2025.
Going back a bit further, 2024 saw additional signs. In late 2024, Kim reportedly ordered the “full-scale mass production” of attack drones and explicitly called for applying AI to these systems warontherocks.com. At a military meeting, he noted that drones were achieving “clear successes in big and small conflicts” around the world – an oblique reference to their effectiveness in wars like Ukraine – and argued this trend “urgently calls for updating many parts of military theory” warontherocks.com. In other words, North Korea’s doctrine and training needed to adapt to the drone era. Notably, North Korean state media commentary (e.g. in the Rodong Sinmun) began to discuss drones in strategic terms, highlighting their “low production costs and simple manufacturing processes” and the fact they “have achieved clear results in both large and small-scale conflicts” warontherocks.com warontherocks.com. This language appeared in early 2024, indicating that Kim’s regime was closely observing drone use in conflicts like Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria, and Ukraine, and drawing conclusions about the value of UAVs as a cost-effective force multiplier.
Additionally, Kim Jong Un has made frequent personal visits to drone-related units and factories in recent years, underlining his hands-on interest. According to South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, Kim conducted at least four on-site inspections related to UAV development in the year or so before the Sept 2025 announcement stripes.com. Each visit was likely tied to specific milestones – for example, inspecting a plant building new drones, watching a test flight, or guiding research at an aerospace institute. Such repeat visits are significant: Kim typically reserves his limited public inspections for strategic priorities (like missile launches or economic showpieces), so the fact that drones got this much attention pre-2025 shows a clear build-up to the “AI drones are top priority” policy.
The September 2025 event itself also came at a symbolic timing. It was just a week after North Korea had conducted a major missile-related test – on Sept. 11, 2025, Kim oversaw a successful trial of a new solid-fuel ICBM rocket engine, which he hailed as a “significant expansion” of his nuclear strike capabilities aljazeera.com. By following that up with the drone showcase, Kim presented back-to-back advances: one in strategic nuclear arms and one in cutting-edge conventional tech. This one-two punch was likely calibrated to impress both domestic and international audiences with North Korea’s breadth of progress. Domestically, it bolsters Kim’s image as a leader bringing technological glory; internationally, it serves notice that Pyongyang is not just improving nukes but also mastering 21st-century warfare tools.
It’s also worth noting that October 10, 2025 marked the 80th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea – a major political milestone. North Korea often likes to unveil new military hardware or hold massive parades for such anniversaries. Indeed, analysts speculated that Kim’s high-profile talk about drones and the release of drone photos in September 2025 were partly intended to set the stage for an anniversary military parade or exhibition where these new systems would be flaunted stripes.com stripes.com. “They want to make it a political achievement,” said Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asan Institute in Seoul, referring to North Korea’s drone displays ahead of the October celebration stripes.com stripes.com. In other words, portraying leaps in drone and AI tech feeds into the regime’s domestic propaganda narrative of strength and “modernity” as it marks important dates.
In summary, Kim’s September 2025 pronouncement elevated AI-enabled drones to the pinnacle of North Korea’s defense agenda, but it was the culmination of a multi-year trajectory. Prior tests, declarations, and arms development activities all signaled Pyongyang’s intent to become a player in unmanned warfare. By publicly branding it a “top priority,” Kim has effectively directed the entire North Korean defense complex – scientists, factories, military units – to align behind the goal of fielding advanced drones with AI, as quickly as possible.
Recent Developments and Policy Shifts
North Korea’s push for AI drones in 2025 coincides with fast-moving developments in its international military engagements and alignments. One of the most striking (and alarming to Western observers) has been Pyongyang’s direct and indirect involvement in the Ukraine war on Russia’s side. By late 2024, reports from Seoul and Washington indicated that Kim Jong Un was not only offering rhetorical support to Moscow, but also supplying weapons and even personnel to assist Russia’s campaign. In December 2024, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff went public with intelligence that North Korea was preparing to send more troops and “suicide drones” to Russia to bolster its war effort reuters.com. Pyongyang had already delivered batches of 240 mm multiple rocket launchers and 170 mm self-propelled howitzers to the Russian army reuters.com. Now, Kim was reportedly guiding an expansion of drone production specifically to be shipped to Russia after a successful test of such drones in November 2024 reuters.com. An official from Seoul’s JCS noted, “Suicide drones are one of the tasks that Kim Jong Un has focused on,” and that North Korea had expressed its intent to give these drones to Russia reuters.com. This extraordinary turn effectively made North Korea an active (if covert) participant in a European war – something not seen since the Korean pilots who flew in the Vietnam War – and it highlighted how central drones had become in Kim’s strategic thinking. By arming Russia with drones (and learning from Russia’s drone warfare in return), North Korea was both aiding an ally and field-testing its new unmanned systems in a real conflict by proxy.
The scale of North Korea’s involvement in Ukraine should not be underestimated. According to South Korean and Ukrainian officials, around 12,000 North Korean “volunteer” troops (likely a mix of artillery crews, engineers, and other military specialists) have been deployed to Russia, presumably to aid operations in Ukraine reuters.com. The South’s intelligence reports even tallied over 1,000 North Korean casualties (killed or wounded) in Ukraine as of late 2024 reuters.com – a staggering revelation that illustrates Pyongyang’s willingness to risk blood and treasure abroad. In exchange, aside from drones and know-how, Russia has provided some advanced equipment to North Korea’s military. For instance, South Korea’s spy agency reported that Russia transferred anti-aircraft missiles and other air defense gear to North Korea, likely to help shield Pyongyang from spy planes or cruise missiles reuters.com. There are also indications Russia may have quietly sent a few older MiG or Su fighter jets to North Korea as part of the burgeoning arms-for-resources trade aljazeera.com. All these exchanges reinforce that North Korea’s drone and AI drive is enmeshed in a larger shift: the formation of a tighter military axis with Russia (and to an extent, Iran), aimed at countering Western power.
Diplomatically and symbolically, Kim Jong Un has made moves that underscore this shift. In early September 2025, just weeks before his AI drone announcement, Kim traveled to Beijing to stand alongside China’s President Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Putin at a grand military parade aljazeera.com. This event – China’s Victory Day parade on September 3, 2025 – was a highly choreographed display of unity among the three leaders. Analysts described the image of Xi flanked by Putin and Kim as a “stark display” of a nascent bloc and North Korea’s desire to take the world stage alongside great powers aljazeera.com. Beyond the optics, the Beijing meeting likely involved discussion of defense cooperation: the presence of Kim and Putin together in Xi’s orbit hinted at a de facto coalition. Indeed, one outcome reportedly was an understanding that China and Russia would continue providing tech support to North Korea (e.g., China ensuring a flow of critical microelectronics despite sanctions jamestown.org, and Russia sharing drone production techniques warontherocks.com). For Kim, emerging from diplomatic isolation to join such a triad was a bold foreign policy shift, emboldening him to pursue military advancements with less fear of international punishment.
On the Korean Peninsula itself, Kim’s new focus on drones and AI has paralleled a period of intensified military activity and tension. North Korea conducted a record number of missile tests in 2022-2023, including ICBMs and tactical nuclear-capable missiles, and even claimed to test a bizarre nuclear torpedo drone (the Haeil underwater drone) in early 2023 38north.org. While the latter claim is unverified, it shows Pyongyang’s propaganda pushing the narrative of innovative unmanned weapons. Meanwhile, U.S. and South Korean forces have stepped up joint exercises, which Kim bitterly denounces as rehearsals for invasion aljazeera.com. In response, North Korea in 2023-2024 started staging its own large exercises featuring drones: for example, North Korea’s air force and strategic rocket forces practiced strikes using drones and cruise missiles in simulated “preemptive” attacks on South targets (as reported by NK state media). Kim’s regime also declared a new policy of all-out deterrence in late 2022, saying it would respond to even minor incursions (like South Korean drones crossing the DMZ) with immediate force – a stance that led to a serious flare-up when the South in turn sent drones north of the border in retaliation for the 2022 incident responsiblestatecraft.org responsiblestatecraft.org.
As of the time of Kim’s September 2025 announcement, North Korea was likely gearing up for more demonstrations of its drone capabilities. Observers in Seoul suspected that the 80th Workers’ Party anniversary (Oct 10, 2025) might feature a military parade unveiling new drones and other hardware. Commercial satellite imagery picked up increased activity at North Korea’s parade training grounds in the weeks prior, suggesting rehearsals for new formations – possibly including UAV flyovers. Although details remain secret, it would fit Pyongyang’s pattern (as seen in July 2023) of dramatically flying drone prototypes during parades to shock onlookers en.news1.kr nknews.org. If such a parade occurred, it likely intended to show the North Korean people and the world that Kim’s call to prioritize AI drones is already bearing fruit in the form of operational units.
Another current development tied to this policy shift is the regime’s effort to update its military education and theory. North Korean military academies and the KPA’s General Staff are reportedly revising training curricula to include unmanned systems tactics and counter-drone measures, reflecting Kim’s order to adapt doctrine warontherocks.com. State media articles have discussed how global conflicts (read: Ukraine) prove the need to rewrite battlefield strategy – emphasizing drone swarms, electronic warfare, and AI-driven decision-support as new pillars of war. Kim himself said the “proliferation of drones urgently calls for updating many parts of military theory”, indicating that everything from infantry tactics to high command strategy is being reassessed through the lens of drone warfare warontherocks.com. For example, North Korea’s artillery units, traditionally trained in mass fires, are now being taught to integrate targeting data from reconnaissance drones for improved accuracy. Likewise, air defense units are training to detect and shoot down small drones, using methods like jamming or even new anti-drone rifles that North Korea has started producing (based on images from Korean Central TV).
In summary, the “AI drones top priority” policy comes amid North Korea’s most assertive military posture in years – active engagement in a foreign war alongside Russia, unprecedented technological exchanges with allies, and high-profile demonstrations of new capabilities. Kim’s regime is essentially pivoting from a period of pure nuclear saber-rattling to one that couples nukes with cutting-edge conventional systems, aiming for a more well-rounded threat profile. This shift is being watched warily by the international community and is already provoking reactions from other nations.
International Reactions and Analysis
Global powers and neighboring countries have reacted with a mix of alarm, skepticism, and resolve to North Korea’s escalating drone and AI ambitions. In South Korea, which would be the first target of any North Korean drones, officials have been openly concerned. The South Korean Ministry of Defense and intelligence services noted that Kim’s emphasis on drones has been evident for some time – for instance, publicly pointing out that Kim had at least four on-site visits to drone development facilities recently stripes.com. Seoul has responded by boosting its counter-drone defenses. After the embarrassing December 2022 drone incursion, the South Korean military invested in new radars, jamming guns, and even drone interception drones to plug gaps warontherocks.com. The South also formed a dedicated unit to monitor North Korean UAV activities. Upon Kim’s September 2025 announcement, a South Korean defense spokesperson stated that Seoul would “continue to closely monitor the regime’s drone program” and strengthen readiness stripes.com. There is a palpable worry in Seoul that North Korea could use swarms of small attack drones in a surprise strike on critical infrastructure or leadership targets. South Korean media and analysts frequently cite the example of the 2019 attacks on Saudi oil facilities (attributed to drones and cruise missiles) as a scenario they fear on the peninsula. In response, South Korea and the U.S. have incorporated anti-drone drills into their joint exercises. In mid-2025, for example, the allies practiced “kill chain” drills to rapidly detect and destroy incoming drones – an acknowledgement that North Korea’s new systems must be taken seriously.
The United States has likewise voiced its concern through intelligence assessments and diplomatic channels. In May 2025, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) publicly assessed that North Korea is in its “strongest strategic position in decades”, able to threaten U.S. forces and allies in Northeast Asia and steadily improving its capability to even strike the U.S. homeland aljazeera.com. Part of that strength comes from its missile and nuclear advances, but Washington also notes North Korea’s diversification into drones and cyber warfare as enhancing its threat. American military commanders in the Pacific have warned that U.S. bases in Korea and Japan could be vulnerable to North Korean drone attacks, ranging from ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) drones spying on bases to explosive-laden drones targeting air defense sites. Following Kim’s AI drone pronouncement, U.S. State Department officials condemned any North Korean transfer of drones to Russia as a violation of U.N. resolutions, and urged Pyongyang to “refrain from actions that increase regional instability.” The U.S. has been working with partners at the U.N. to tighten enforcement of tech sanctions – for instance, trying to stem the flow of components like chips or engines that North Korea could use for UAVs. U.S. officials have also quietly engaged China, pressing Beijing to clamp down on Chinese companies that may be supplying dual-use technology (so far with limited success). Militarily, the U.S. is adjusting its own posture: it plans to deploy more counter-UAS units to its forces in South Korea, and is investing heavily in research on defeating drone swarms (e.g. using electronic warfare, lasers, and intercept drones) businessinsider.com businessinsider.com.
Japan, another regional stakeholder, is extremely wary as well. North Korean drones over the Sea of Japan (East Sea) could threaten Japanese airspace or shipping. Tokyo has condemned North Korea’s drone development as “unacceptable,” especially any aspect involving AI that could enable autonomous strikes. In response, Japan is setting up an integrated aerial defense network that includes drone detection systems around its west coast. Japanese defense white papers now explicitly mention North Korea’s drones as a new threat, alongside missiles. Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. have even discussed tripartite cooperation on anti-drone technology during trilateral meetings in 2023-2025. A concrete step: in late 2025, the U.S. and Japan announced a joint project to test drone interception lasers on ships in the region, a program clearly driven by both Chinese and North Korean drone advancements.
China’s reaction publicly has been muted – Chinese officials typically avoid commenting on North Korea’s conventional military developments, sticking to calls for stability and dialogue. However, Beijing’s stance is somewhat two-faced. On one hand, China has reiterated support for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and urged “all sides” not to provoke conflict (a veiled message to both North Korea and the U.S.). On the other hand, evidence strongly suggests that China is enabling North Korea’s drone and AI programs behind the scenes. As mentioned, a huge proportion of the critical electronic components in both North Korean and Russian drones – semiconductors, GPS modules, cameras – originate from China jamestown.org. Chinese firms and smugglers have been caught funneling banned high-performance computer chips and even entire commercial drones to North Korea. Beijing officially denies it is violating sanctions, but enforcement is lax at best. Strategically, China likely sees a benefit in North Korea keeping U.S./South Korean forces occupied and in North Korea helping bleed Western resources via Ukraine. So while Xi Jinping might not overtly praise Kim’s drone initiatives, China’s state media has noted North Korea’s military “progress” in a somewhat approving tone. Notably, at the September 2025 Beijing parade where Kim was present, Chinese commentators pointed out the North Korean drones on display as a sign that Pyongyang is “actively bolstering its defense capabilities” – essentially state-sanctioned acknowledgement.
Russia, unsurprisingly, has been supportive of North Korea’s military modernization (within limits). President Putin and his officials, when asked, downplay the significance of North Korean arms aid, calling it sovereign cooperation between allies. After Kim’s drone priority announcement, the Kremlin’s spokesperson avoided direct reference to it, but emphasized that Russia and North Korea have a long history of defense collaboration and that “technological exchange” would continue. Russian state media in fact gave Kim’s drone tests some coverage – for instance, Sputnik News ran a piece highlighting North Korea’s new drones and saying the West should not “underestimate the DPRK’s technological strides.” Strategically, Russia seems keen to incorporate North Korean drones into its own arsenal as well. There are reports that Russian forces deployed in Ukraine have already tested a few North Korean-supplied loitering munitions (though identifying their origin is difficult). Moscow also likely provided North Korea with designs or parts of the Iranian-origin Shahed drones which Russia produces (branded Geran-2) warontherocks.com. Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, claimed in mid-2025 that Russia is actively helping North Korea build domestic production lines for two types of long-range kamikaze drones – the Garpiya and Geran models – which are clones of Iran’s Shahed series warontherocks.com. This is notable because historically North Korea supplied arms to Iran; now, via Russia, Iranian drone tech is flowing to North Korea warontherocks.com. It represents a new kind of proliferation that has defense analysts concerned about a “drone nexus” forming among sanctioned states.
Turning to defense analysts and experts, many are watching North Korea’s drone push with a critical eye. Yang Uk, a South Korean military expert, has cautioned against assuming these new North Korean drones match the capabilities of U.S. or Israeli systems. He observed that while North Korea’s big reconnaissance drone unveiled in 2025 physically resembles the Global Hawk, it’s “highly unlikely to match it in flight distance and surveillance capabilities.” Yang noted its engines and sensors are probably far less advanced, limiting range and resolution stripes.com. “If [North Korea] had made a significant achievement [with AI], they would publicize it all over the news,” Yang said, implying Pyongyang is still in early stages of true AI deployment stripes.com. He added that “everybody’s talking about AI, so I think North Korea is also exploring some venues for it”, characterizing Kim’s AI focus as partly following the global hype stripes.com stripes.com.
Western analysts echo some skepticism but also issue warnings. Experts at War on the Rocks (Jonathan Corrado et al.) argue that North Korea’s drone tactics and hardware have become “substantially more lethal” over just a few years, thanks to material and training support from Russia and even Iran warontherocks.com. They point out that North Korean troops gained invaluable “modern battlefield experience” in Russia’s Kursk region, which – combined with Russian tech transfers – is “rapidly enhancing North Korea’s drone development and operational tactics.” warontherocks.com warontherocks.com. The result, they contend, will “significantly boost North Korea’s military power, amplifying its coercive potential on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.” warontherocks.com. In other words, these analysts see the drone program as a force multiplier for Pyongyang’s ability to intimidate and potentially strike adversaries, possibly emboldening Kim’s regime in future crises. They also note North Korea’s leadership has been unusually explicit in singling out drones as key – citing how Kim personally said “global military competition increasingly centers on innovative drone technology” and that the Workers’ Party has prioritized integrating unmanned systems into doctrine warontherocks.com warontherocks.com. Such high-level emphasis is not mere propaganda, in their view, but a statement of intent that must be taken seriously.
Intelligence analysts are also closely watching for signs of external assistance enabling North Korea’s AI ambitions. The rapid progress from barely having hobby drones a few years ago to showcasing large, satellite-controlled UAVs now “raises questions about possible technological assistance from Russia,” as War on the Rocks put it warontherocks.com. There is speculation that Russian engineers or even AI software libraries may be helping North Korea overcome its limitations. Reports have emerged – for example via Ukraine’s Defense Ministry – that Russia is employing an AI-enhanced version of the Shahed-136 drone, using a NVIDIA Jetson AI module for autonomous targeting without GPS warontherocks.com warontherocks.com. If Russia is fielding that, could some of that know-how be shared with North Korean drone projects? It’s a worrying possibility. Former CIA analyst Bruce Klingner has noted that with Russia and North Korea now effectively military allies, Pyongyang could access advanced algorithms or jamming-resistant communications that it otherwise could never develop alone.
Non-proliferation and arms control experts, meanwhile, are highlighting the legal and ethical implications. Rachel Stohl of the Stimson Center pointed out that North Korea’s pursuit of autonomous attack drones blurs the line toward “lethal autonomous weapons systems” (LAWS) that the international community has been debating dawn.com. These are weapons that can select and engage targets without human intervention. The Israeli-made Harop loitering munition (which North Korea likely aspires to emulate) is often cited as a system with a high degree of autonomy, and its use has already raised questions under international humanitarian law dawn.com. If North Korea – a country not known for respecting the laws of war – manages to field AI-guided drones, the worry is they could be used recklessly or against civilian targets, with no accountability.
Finally, there is a perspective among some analysts that North Korea’s flamboyant drone announcements are at least partly psychological warfare. Duyeon Kim, a Seoul-based fellow at CSIS, argued that Kim Jong Un enjoys demonstrating new weapons to sow doubt and fear in adversaries’ minds, even if the systems themselves are nascent. By showcasing drones that look like U.S. models, Pyongyang feeds an image of a technologically advancing North – possibly to strengthen its hand in any future negotiations (the message being: “we can hit you in more ways now”). However, if adversaries call the bluff and bolster their own defenses, North Korea may end up in an even more precarious security dilemma. The coming years will test whether Kim’s AI drone gambit genuinely transforms his military or becomes another heavily sanctioned, under-resourced program that exists more on paper and parade routes than in real combat.
The Global Drone and AI Arms Race: U.S., China, Russia, Israel
North Korea’s turn toward AI-driven drones is happening amid a broader global race to develop unmanned and autonomous weapons. Major military powers and smaller states alike are investing heavily in drones and military AI – both to gain new advantages and to avoid falling behind rivals. A look at a few key players provides context:
United States
The United States has been the pioneer of military drones for over two decades. American Predators and Reapers essentially introduced the world to armed drones in the early 2000s, conducting surveillance and strikes from Afghanistan to Iraq. Today, the U.S. maintains a vast fleet of advanced UAVs: the MQ-9 Reaper for attack missions, the RQ-4 Global Hawk for high-altitude reconnaissance, the MQ-4C Triton for maritime patrol, and stealthy drones like the RQ-170 Sentinel (and reportedly the RQ-180) for covert operations. Now, the U.S. is pushing the envelope with AI and autonomy in its drones. The Air Force’s Skyborg program, for example, has been developing autonomous combat drones (loyal wingmen) that can fly alongside manned fighter jets en.wikipedia.org breakingdefense.com. The idea is these AI-piloted drones (such as the Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie) could carry weapons or sensors, execute missions under human command or semi-autonomously, and even sacrifice themselves to protect pilots. In 2023, the USAF successfully tested AI agents flying an unmanned fighter jet in test sorties – a glimpse of what’s coming.
Beyond aircraft, the Pentagon is integrating AI for target identification and decision support across many systems. Project Maven, a well-known initiative, has used machine learning to analyze drone surveillance footage and automatically spot targets (e.g. vehicles, insurgents) much faster than human analysts. The U.S. sees AI as crucial to countering swarms of enemy drones too. The Department of Defense has set up a Joint AI Center and launched contests for AI-powered drone swarms that can collaborate in reconnaissance or attack roles. On the defensive side, the U.S. is urgently developing counter-drone measures as it anticipates adversaries (China or North Korea) using mass drone attacks. A report by the Center for a New American Security warned in 2025 that the U.S. must “gear up” or risk being overwhelmed by drone swarms, particularly from China businessinsider.com. Indeed, the Pentagon planned to spend $7.4 billion in 2025 on counter-drone technologies alone businessinsider.com – from high-powered microwave and laser systems that can zap drones, to improved radar and AI algorithms to detect small UAVs. While the U.S. possesses cutting-edge drones, the sheer scale of adversary drone programs (and the low cost of drones) has officials worried that American forces could face swarms that tax traditional defenses businessinsider.com. This has led to calls for “layered defenses” using everything from electronic jamming, to new AI-assisted targeting systems that can track and prioritize multiple incoming drones faster than human operators businessinsider.com. In short, the U.S. is both a leader in deploying drones and a leading advocate of integrating AI into military systems – but it’s also scrambling to ensure it can defend against the very kind of drone threat that North Korea is now developing.
China
China has rapidly become a top drone superpower, often mentioned in the same breath as the U.S. Chinese defense firms (like CASC and AVIC) produce a wide range of military drones, many of which strongly resemble or are modeled on U.S. designs – from the medium-altitude Wing Loong attack drone (akin to the MQ-9 Reaper) to the high-altitude Divine Eagle and Soaring Dragon UAVs (akin to Global Hawk). China has used these drones for surveillance around Asia and has aggressively exported drones to dozens of countries, filling a niche for nations that the U.S. refuses to sell to. But beyond current drones, China is charging ahead on drone swarms and AI. Notably, Beijing reportedly placed an order in 2024 for a staggering one million “one-way” attack drones (loitering munitions) for delivery by 2026 businessinsider.com. This indicates both the industrial capacity and the strategic intent to field drone swarms on an unprecedented scale. Chinese military writings frequently discuss saturation attacks – overwhelming an enemy’s defenses with huge numbers of cheap drones and missiles. To coordinate such swarms, China is known to be researching autonomous swarm intelligence. In 2020, a Chinese university demoed a swarm of 200 drones flying in concert without human pilots, and PLA scientists have published papers on swarming algorithms. By 2025, according to reports, China’s military drone industry outpaces that of the U.S. in terms of output and variety asiatimes.com. The PLA (People’s Liberation Army) has integrated drones into all levels of its operations – from tiny quadcopters for infantry units to unmanned wingmen for its aircraft.
Crucially, China’s strategic documents embrace the concept of “intelligentized warfare,” which is essentially warfare enhanced by AI and autonomy. Chinese commanders speak of using AI for faster decision-making, drone swarms to augment firepower, and robotic systems to reduce human casualties. They have even shown off prototypes like the loyal wingman drone FH-97A (similar in concept to the U.S. Skyborg) at airshows. Chinese researchers are also exploring AI-driven cyber warfare and electronic warfare – for example, drones that can autonomously jam enemy communications or hack networks. All these efforts mean China could, in the near future, field forces where drones are deeply integrated and partially autonomous, coordinated by AI across air, land, sea, and even space domains.
The impact of China’s drone push is already visible. Chinese-made armed drones have seen combat in the Middle East (e.g. the UAE and Saudi used Wing Loongs in Yemen). In the Ukraine war, Chinese commercial drones (like DJI models) are ubiquitous on both sides, and there’s evidence China provided parts that ended up in Russian military drones jamestown.org. Strategically, U.S. analysts fear a scenario where, say, in a conflict over Taiwan, swarms of Chinese drones – from explosive suicide drones to surveillance micro-drones – could “drown” U.S. and allied forces unless countermeasures are in place businessinsider.com businessinsider.com. As Business Insider reported, China’s mass production and civil-military fusion in drone tech mean it “may soon have the largest and most sophisticated drone fleet in the world.” businessinsider.com. This has directly spurred the U.S. and others to ramp up counter-drone efforts. In summary, China is both an inspiration and a facilitator for North Korea’s drone program. Pyongyang sees in Beijing a model for harnessing drones as a strategic tool – and likely sources many components from the Chinese market. It’s a sobering reality that the same Chinese technology propelling the world’s most advanced drone swarms could find its way, through backchannels, into North Korean hands.
Russia
For Russia, drones and AI have turned from a weakness to a priority because of the harsh lessons of the Ukraine war. At the war’s outset in 2022, Russia was caught relatively unprepared for large-scale drone warfare – it had some surveillance drones (like Orlan-10s) and a few homemade loitering munitions (like the ZALA Lancet), but nowhere near the capability for sustained drone campaigns. Facing a motivated Ukraine armed with Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones and then a flood of Western-supplied and DIY drones, Russia adapted quickly. By 2023-2024, Russia dramatically ramped up its use of loitering kamikaze drones, primarily by importing or domestically producing Iranian-designed Shahed-136 drones (which Russia calls Geran-2) jamestown.org. It launched these in swarms at Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, often dozens per night, to wear down Ukrainian air defenses. Over time, Russia also improved the drones: a Jamestown Foundation analysis noted that Russia is increasing the production of Shahed-type drones to up to 500 units per day, aiming to launch massive waves (even up to 1,000 drones in a single coordinated attack) jamestown.org. Such scale – while not fully realized yet – would be devastating if achieved. Additionally, Russia started employing “swarm tactics” with mixed drone types: for instance, sending two Lancet attack drones together with a larger reconnaissance drone to find and strike targets cooperatively understandingwar.org.
Crucially, Russia is incorporating more advanced technology and AI into its drones as the war progresses. By 2025, Ukrainian forces have observed new features in Russian drones: improved explosives (Russia fitted some drones with heavier 90 kg warheads for greater destruction jamestown.org), acoustic devices to terrorize civilians jamestown.org, and most notably, anti-jamming navigation systems. In early 2025, Ukrainian intel found Russian Shahed drones using Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas (CRPA) with multiple elements, making them harder to jam jamestown.org. They also found small onboard computers and SIM cards transmitting telemetry – evidence that Russian engineers are hacking in inexpensive ways to boost drone effectiveness jamestown.org. According to Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence, 80% of the critical electronics in Russian drones were coming from China as of 2025 jamestown.org, indicating how Russia is skirting sanctions to keep up technologically.
The most worrisome development is Russia testing fully autonomous strike drones guided by AI and computer vision. As of mid-2025, reports surfaced of experimental drones (similar to Lancet loitering munitions) that can “detect, identify, and select targets autonomously” without any radio control from an operator jamestown.org. One such drone reportedly attacked Odesa in May 2025, hinting that at least a prototype was used in combat jamestown.org. These AI-driven drones navigate and lock onto targets on their own, making them effectively immune to radio jamming and potentially faster in reacting. For defenders, this is a nightmare: drones that don’t emit signals (because they’re not being remote-controlled) are hard to detect and impossible to jam jamestown.org. One analyst likened it to a fire-and-forget “hunter-killer” missile that roams the skies. If Russia can refine and produce these autonomous drones at scale, it would rewrite the rules of drone warfare. It also raises ethical issues – no human in the loop means no one to make a judgment call if the drone targets the wrong thing (e.g. civilians). Russian officials haven’t explicitly confirmed using AI-killer drones, but they have announced efforts to automate more of their weapons. President Putin in late 2022 famously said whoever leads in AI will rule the world, and the Russian military sees AI as a way to offset NATO’s numerical and economic advantages.
For North Korea, Russia’s drone evolution is both a model and a direct source of hardware. As noted earlier, Russia has been sharing some of its drone tech with Pyongyang. There is evidence that North Korean engineers have been present at Russian drone manufacturing sites (like the UZGA plant producing Geran-2s) to learn and potentially receive parts warontherocks.com warontherocks.com. Also, as War on the Rocks highlighted, Russia provided at least one Pantsir-S1 mobile air defense system to North Korea recently warontherocks.com. While that’s an AA system, not a drone, it shows Moscow is willing to strengthen North Korea’s conventional forces, perhaps to free up North Korean resources to focus on drones and missiles. In return, North Korea might apply its formidable reverse-engineering skills: Pyongyang could take an Iranian/Russian drone design and churn out a crude but effective local version (similar to how Iran itself copied and iterated on drones).
In sum, Russia is now one of the world’s most aggressive users of drones in war, and it’s integrating AI quickly under battlefield pressure. This creates a fast feedback loop of innovation that countries like North Korea – plugged into Russia’s network – can benefit from. The drone arms race thus isn’t just isolated efforts; Russia’s gains can directly accelerate North Korea’s gains.
Israel
Israel is often regarded as a pioneer in the drone domain – it was operating military drones as early as the 1970s and 80s. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have since developed one of the most sophisticated UAV arsenals, and Israel has been a top exporter of drones globally. What stands out in Israel’s case is the high level of autonomy and intelligence in some of its systems, which arguably puts it at the forefront of lethal autonomous weapons development.
One prominent example is the Harop loitering munition (also known as a “suicide drone”) developed by Israel Aerospace Industries. The Harop is essentially a flying bomb that can roam above a battlefield for hours and autonomously hunt for specific targets like enemy radars by detecting their signal emissions dawn.com. It carries a 23 kg warhead and can dive onto a target once identified. Importantly, the Harop can operate in a couple of modes: it can be guided by a human operator via remote control, or it can function in a pre-programmed fully autonomous mode where it independently searches and destroys within a designated area dawn.com dawn.com. If it doesn’t find a target, it can even return to base and land itself, a fairly advanced capability for a drone dawn.com dawn.com. Such autonomy is why some arms control advocates cite Harop (and its predecessor Harpy) in discussions about banning “killer robots” – these drones effectively make kill decisions on their own when in autonomous mode dawn.com.
Israel has used drones like Harop in combat indirectly through clients: for instance, Azerbaijan used Israeli Harop drones to devastating effect against Armenian forces in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, knocking out tanks and air defense units. Videos showed Harop drones hitting moving targets with high precision, implying advanced target recognition. Israel also has larger UAVs like the Heron TP (an equivalent to the American Predator/Reaper) which can carry missiles and is reported to have some autonomous navigation capabilities. In recent conflicts, such as battles against Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel has leveraged AI in military operations – not just in drones, but in processing intelligence. There are reports that during conflicts in Gaza, the IDF employed an AI system to rapidly process surveillance data (including drone feeds) to identify rocket launchers and strike targets in minutes en.wikipedia.org.
In terms of pure drone technology, Israel constantly innovates: it has drone swarms for surveillance, miniature drones like the SkyStriker loitering munition, and has integrated drones into its networked warfare systems. Israeli drones are also known for electronic warfare capabilities – some can jam enemy communications or spoof radars. A notable aspect is Israel’s concept of “drone as a sensor shooter” – drones that can find a target and immediately strike it without needing to relay the info elsewhere. This concept is being mirrored by others now.
For North Korea (and other countries), Israel’s success demonstrates the potential of relatively small nations to become world-class players in drone warfare through ingenuity. Of course, Israel’s technological base and access to high-end components differ vastly from North Korea’s situation. But Israeli drones like Harop provide proof that even fully autonomous precision strikes are not just theoretical – they’ve been operational for years dawn.com dawn.com. This underscores why many nations, including North Korea, are racing to develop similar loitering munitions and AI-driven weapons.
In the global context, Israel’s developments push others: for example, Turkey developed its Kargu drone (a quadcopter kamikaze) and tested swarm algorithms, partly inspired by Israeli tech. Iran, feeling threatened by Israeli drones, built copies (like the Arash-2, which some speculate is a response to Harop). North Korea and Iran have historically cooperated in missiles; one can’t rule out that they might share drone know-how too, especially since Iran has fielded drones in Yemen and Syria successfully.
In summary, each of these countries – the U.S., China, Russia, Israel – is propelling the evolution of military drones and AI, albeit with different approaches. The U.S. and Israel focus on higher-cost but high-tech systems with precision and autonomy, China focuses on mass production and swarm usage with growing sophistication, and Russia (and by extension Iran) have innovated in making drones that are cheap, abundant, and now smarter through necessity in war. North Korea’s newfound prioritization of AI drones can be seen as a reactive move to this global trend – Kim Jong Un doesn’t want to be left behind in what is clearly the future of warfare. However, it’s also a proactive strategy to punch above North Korea’s weight: by tapping into available tech from friends and foes (even via illicit means), Pyongyang aims to field a capability that complicates life for more advanced militaries.
Implications for Regional and Global Security
North Korea’s drive to develop AI-guided drones and other unmanned weapons has far-reaching implications, potentially shifting the security calculus in East Asia and beyond. Here are several key ramifications:
- Heightened Threat to South Korea and Japan: For Seoul and Tokyo, North Korea’s new drones represent a troubling new vector of attack. Previously, North Korea’s main threats were its artillery (which can bombard Seoul) and missiles (which can hit anywhere in South Korea or Japan). Now, swarms of drones – especially low-flying or small ones – could slip through radar coverage or exploit gaps in missile defenses. They could be used to target critical military assets like radar stations, missile batteries, or even leadership facilities with little warning. The December 2022 drone intrusion showed how even a primitive UAV can cause air defense chaos in South Korea warontherocks.com. If North Korea deploys dozens or hundreds of more advanced drones, it could overwhelm point-defense systems. South Korea is thus faced with investing heavily in round-the-clock air surveillance and quick-reaction interception units for drones, diverting resources and increasing the chance of miscalculations (for example, a false alarm or accidental shoot-down of a civilian craft). Japan, too, fears that North Korean long-range drones could be used to drop propaganda or even biological agents over its territory, or simply to harass its airspace to test responses.
- Arms Race and Military Posture Changes: Kim’s announcement virtually guarantees an arms race in counter-drone and drone capabilities on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea’s President Yoon has already announced the formation of a high-tech drone operations command to respond in kind to the North. There’s talk in Seoul of acquiring loitering munitions of its own and deploying more advanced fighter jets equipped with AESA radars that can spot small drones. Japan is purchasing interceptor drones and researching laser weapons. The United States is likely to deploy more of its advanced Gray Eagle drones or even MQ-9 Reapers to Korea to enhance surveillance of the North (providing early warning of drone launch activity). All these moves could further ratchet up tensions. An arms race in autonomous weapons also raises the risk of pre-emption: if one side fears the other’s drones could knock out its defenses in a first strike, it might consider striking first in a crisis. This “use ’em or lose ’em” dilemma, well-known in nuclear strategy, could now manifest with drones and AI, reducing crisis stability.
- Expanded Provocations and Coercion: North Korea may feel emboldened to carry out more frequent and farther-reaching provocations using drones, calculating that they are deniable or less escalatory than missiles. For instance, Pyongyang might send surveillance drones over U.S. bases in South Korea or even Japan to scare personnel and showcase reach. It could also use small drones to periodically violate the DMZ and test responses, as a form of psychological warfare. In a conflict scenario, North Korea might unleash swarms of explosive drones to hit targets in the Seoul metropolitan area or U.S. bases early on, achieving surprise and sowing confusion. This greatly complicates defense planning for South Korea and the U.S. military. Traditional scenarios focused on missiles and artillery; now every radar operator and combat air patrol must also watch for humming drone engines. The potential for accidental clashes also rises – e.g., if North Korean drones stray near the maritime boundaries or overfly a neighbor, they could be shot down, possibly prompting North Korea to retaliate.
- Global Proliferation Concerns: If North Korea succeeds in developing effective AI-enhanced drones, there’s a real worry it will proliferate them to other volatile actors. North Korea has few qualms about selling weapons to anyone with cash; it has sold missiles and arms to the Middle East, Africa, and Asia in the past. We could see North Korean armed drones or loitering munitions finding their way to conflicts in the Middle East or to militant groups. Imagine a scenario where Houthi rebels in Yemen use knock-off North Korean kamikaze drones, or where some of Kim’s “suicide drones” end up with Russian-backed militias. This undermines global non-proliferation efforts and could introduce AI-driven weapons into local conflicts, with dire humanitarian consequences.
- Alliance Dynamics and Strategy Shifts: The advent of North Korean AI drones also forces the U.S.-South Korea alliance (and the U.S.-Japan alliance) to adapt strategy. They may need new concepts of operation that account for drone swarm attacks, perhaps dispersing their forces more to avoid lucrative cluster targets. The U.S. might also consider more aggressive options like striking North Korean drone bases preemptively if a conflict looks imminent (somewhat akin to counter-force strikes). Meanwhile, the presence of North Korean drones on the battlefield in Ukraine – and potentially elsewhere – pulls Pyongyang into more direct confrontation with NATO interests. This could harden Western attitudes and make diplomatic solutions on the Korean Peninsula even harder to achieve. It’s notable that in 2024, North Korea’s aiding of Russia led to additional U.S. Treasury sanctions and public condemnations. If North Korean drones kill Ukrainian civilians, for example, European states might join pressure against Pyongyang more strongly than before.
- Ethical and Legal Challenges: On the global stage, North Korea’s moves add urgency to the debate over Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS). The UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) has been discussing potential regulations on autonomous killing machines. North Korea (along with Russia, China, and the U.S.) has been resistant to a ban, likely because it sees value in developing them. The use of autonomous drones by North Korea or Russia could set precedents that erode the norm of human control in warfare. If a North Korean AI drone autonomously strikes and causes mass casualties, who is accountable? This is uncharted territory. It may push the international community to finally seek at least a partial ban or regulation, though consensus is difficult. From an ethical standpoint, North Korea’s pursuit of AI for potentially indiscriminate weapons highlights the darker side of the AI revolution – it’s not just Silicon Valley improving lives; regimes can and will use AI to enhance oppression and violence.
- Kim’s Confidence and Calculus: Strengthened by new capabilities, Kim Jong Un might become even more assertive in his foreign policy. As War on the Rocks analysts noted, bolstered drone forces could “support the Kim regime’s strategy of coercion”, making Kim feel he has new tools to intimidate neighbors and “engage in threats, grey-zone aggressions, and conventional attacks” while backed by nuclear weapons as a safety net warontherocks.com warontherocks.com. For example, Kim might use drone threats to try to deter South Korea’s surveillance flights or to compel Seoul to think twice about propaganda balloon launches (an issue that has caused flare-ups). Each new capability North Korea gains tends to lead to a period of provocation to establish its credibility. We may therefore see a deliberate incident where North Korea uses a drone in a provocative way – perhaps a strike on a disputed island or against a South Korean naval vessel – to show “we have this ability now.” Such a move would test the response of Seoul, Washington, and others, potentially bringing the region close to confrontation.
- Integration with WMDs: While North Korea’s drones so far are conventionally armed, the specter of them being combined with weapons of mass destruction looms. Drones could theoretically deliver chemical or biological agents, or even a small nuclear device if one were engineered to fit. North Korea did, after all, demonstrate an “underwater nuclear drone” concept (the Haeil) meant to carry a nuclear warhead to a port 38north.org. That particular system may be of dubious effectiveness, but it illustrates Pyongyang’s interest in unmanned delivery of WMDs. A nuclear-armed drone or cruise missile – essentially a nuclear-capable UAV – would be extremely hard to defend against and would lower the threshold for nuclear use (since a drone could be launched without the immediate clear attribution that a ballistic missile would have). The international community will be watching closely for any indications North Korea is trying to mate its nuclear weapons with unmanned systems. Even the rumor of that would be destabilizing and could trigger preventive military planning by the U.S. and allies.
In conclusion, North Korea’s prioritization of AI and drones is transforming the security landscape. It adds a fresh layer of unpredictability to the Korean conflict scenario and tangibly links North Asia’s security to battlefields as far away as Ukraine. Traditional deterrence models, which relied on static assumptions about North Korea’s capabilities, must be updated – we now have to consider a North Korea that can hit its enemies not just with big missiles or massed artillery, but with swarming, precision-guided, possibly autonomous drones that blur the line between a provocation and an act of war. It underscores the fact that military AI is not some distant future threat – it’s here and proliferating, even to sanctioned states like North Korea.
As a result, regional powers and the international community face a dual challenge: invest in defenses and countermeasures to these new threats, and simultaneously reinvigorate diplomacy (however difficult) to set limits on how these dangerous technologies are used. Absent that, we may be entering a new era of instability where a small drone buzzing in the sky could carry as much geopolitical weight as a tank division or a squadron of fighter jets once did.
Sources:
- Al Jazeera – Kim Jong Un declares AI military drone development a ‘top priority’ (19 Sep 2025) aljazeera.com aljazeera.com aljazeera.com aljazeera.com aljazeera.com aljazeera.com
- Stars and Stripes – North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls AI, drone development a ‘top priority’ (19 Sep 2025) stripes.com stripes.com stripes.com stripes.com
- Reuters – North Korea leader Kim Jong Un touts AI suicide drones, early-warning aircraft (27 Mar 2025) reuters.com reuters.com reuters.com reuters.com
- Reuters – South Korea detects signs of North Korea preparing more troops, drones for Russia (23 Dec 2024) reuters.com reuters.com reuters.com
- War on the Rocks – North Korea’s Deadly Drone Bonanza Is Coming to a Peninsula Near You (22 Jul 2025) warontherocks.com warontherocks.com warontherocks.com warontherocks.com warontherocks.com warontherocks.com warontherocks.com
- Jamestown Foundation – Russian Drones Pose Growing Danger (June 2025) jamestown.org jamestown.org jamestown.org jamestown.org
- Dawn (Pakistan) – Israel-made Harop drones (8 May 2025) dawn.com dawn.com dawn.com
- Business Insider – China could overwhelm US forces with drone swarms: report (10 Sep 2025) businessinsider.com businessinsider.com businessinsider.com businessinsider.com.
