North Korea tests new suicide drones, experts say may be linked to Russia

North Korea has unveiled a new "suicide drone", 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 on Monday.

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.

AI in drone development

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 kilometre (600 miles)," said Cho Sang-keun, a professor at South Korea's Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

Cho added that this is a significant threat to South Korea's national security and critical facilities.

"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 attack on Ukraine in 2022.

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