North Korea tests exploding drones as Kim calls for mass production

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea tested exploding drones designed to crash into targets and leader Kim Jong Un called for accelerating mass production of the weapons, state media said Friday.

The country’s latest military demonstration came as the United States, South Korea and Japan engaged in combined military exercises involving advanced fighter jets and a U.S. aircraft carrier in nearby international waters, in a display of their defense posture against North Korea.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency published photos of Kim talking with officials near at least two different types of unmanned aerial vehicles. They included those with X-shaped tails and wings that look similar to the ones the country disclosed in August, when Kim inspected another demonstration of drones that explode on impact.

The drones flew various routes and accurately struck targets, KCNA said. Its images showed what appeared to be a BMW sedan being destroyed and old models of tanks being blown up.

Kim expressed satisfaction with the weapons’ development process and stressed the need to “build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production,” noting how drones are becoming crucial in modern warfare.

KCNA paraphrased Kim as saying drones were easy to make at low cost for a range of military activities. The report didn’t say if Kim spoke directly about rival South Korea, which the North Korean drones are apparently designed to target.

North Korea last month accused South Korea of sending its own drones to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets over the North's capital of Pyongyang, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. South Korea’s military has refused to confirm whether or not the North’s claims were true.

Tensions in the region have escalated as Kim flaunts his advancing nuclear and missile program, which includes various nuclear-capable weapons targeting South Korea and intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially reach the U.S. mainland.

Kim is also allegedly sending military equipment and troops to Russia to support President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, which raised concerns in Seoul that he would get Russian technology in return to further develop his arsenal.

In addition to his intensifying nuclear threats, Kim has also engaged in psychological and electronic warfare against South Korea, such as flying thousands of balloons to drop trash in the South and disrupting GPS signals from border areas near the South’s biggest airport.

South Korean officials say North Korea will be a key topic in a trilateral summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba this week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Peru.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on the margins of the APEC on Thursday and discussed “strong concerns” over deepening ties between Pyongyang and Moscow, particularly the deployment of North Korean troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said.