Kim Jong Un Supervises Drone Testing, Orders to Expand Production
SEOUL (Sputnik) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday supervised the testing of drones conducted by the Drone Research Institute of the DPRK National Defense Academy and ordered to actively develop and increase the production of various types of drones, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports.
According to the agency, the test took place on August 24. Kim Jong Un was accompanied on site by senior officials of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. The North Korean leader familiarized himself with the drones currently being developed and supervised the test.
The drones with different ranges are designed to hit any enemy targets on land and at sea, various drones flew along predetermined different routes, accurately recognized the specified targets and destroyed them, KCNA reported.
Kim Jong Un expressed satisfaction with the tactical and technical characteristics of the new drones and stressed that it was necessary to "increase the intensity" of combat tests in order to put the drones into service as soon as possible.
He noted that, based on combat experience and military trends, the development of various types of drones and improving their characteristics occupy "an important share in preparing for war."
"We need to actively develop and increase the production of not only strategic reconnaissance drones and multi-purpose attack drones, but also various suicide drones for tactical infantry units and special forces," Kim Jong Un said.
He stressed that due to the country's geographical location on the peninsula, it is necessary to "tirelessly" develop not only underwater strategic weapons, including a nuclear torpedo, but also underwater kamikaze attack drones, and actively introduce artificial intelligence technologies into their development. The leader set tasks for the developers and outlined ways to implement them.
In January, KCNA reported that North Korea had tested the Haeil-5-23 underwater nuclear weapon system, which is currently under development, in protest of joint military exercises between South Korea, the United States and Japan. North Korea has already tested the Haeil and Haeil-2 systems last year. According to state media, the "secret weapon" is the Haeil (Tsunami) nuclear-powered underwater drone, which has been in development since 2012 and has undergone more than 50 tests in the past two years, 29 of which were personally supervised by Kim Jong Un.
