North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was inspecting his country's latest military hardware in a new documentary showing off striking clones of two unmanned U.S. Air Force aerial vehicles.
North Korea's state broadcast KCTV on Monday aired the images that it said showed the regime's supreme leader paying close attention to the development of various defense capabilities. The footage showed Kim testing a sniper rifle and driving an armored personnel carrier at undisclosed locations, reportedly all last year.
Pyongyang has taken a notably hard line toward its neighbor to the south in recent months in light of Seoul's decision to openly strengthen defense ties with treaty ally the United States as well as Japan.
On Monday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported the successful test-firing of a ballistic missile carrying a hypersonic warhead. It followed a record number of missile launches last year as Kim significantly ramped up pressure on the South.
North Korea watchers this month warned that Kim could further escalate tensions through direct military action this year.
KCTV and KCNA are yet to directly reference Kim's inspection of North Korea's drones, which bear a visual resemblance to the U.S. Air Force's RQ-Q Global Hawk and MQ-9 Reaper UAVs, which are developed by U.S. defense contractors Northrop Grumman and General Atomics, respectively.
The pair of drones were first seen at an arms exhibition and military parade held last July. Like its American counterpart, the Saetbyul-4, which shares the Global Hawk's bulging fuselage design, is a reconnaissance aircraft. The Saetbyul-9, like the Reaper, is an attack drone.
Joseph Dempsey, a research associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank in London, said in an analysis last August that the Saetbyul UAVs, despite their resemblance to the U.S. aircraft, likely fall short when it comes to comparable capabilities.
Their appearance, however, does underscore Pyongyang's desire to enhance its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, he said.
Dempsey speculated that the historical defense technology relationship between North Korea and Iran means Tehran likely shared insights with Pyongyang about the Global Hawk, one of which was shot down by Iranian air defense forces in 2019 over the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, the Saetbyul-9—the Korean People's Air Force's first new combat-ready aircraft in two decades—is designed to carry an array of weaponry, including glide bombs and air-to-surface missiles.
Analysts at 38 North, a prominent North Korean monitoring group, expressed similar skepticism about Pyongyang's drone clones compared to the American originals. However, even if less advanced, deploying these UAVs in substantial numbers could provide North Korea with a strategic advantage, according to a report published last August.
On Tuesday, KCNA said the North Korean parliament had approved the abolishment of several agencies meant to facilitate inter-Korean reconciliation, including the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification, the equivalent to South Korea's Unification Ministry.
Pyongyang declared Seoul the regime's "No. 1 enemy."
In a new report for 38 North this month, analysts Robert Carlin and Siegfried Hecker concluded that Kim had decided to "go to war" on the peninsula.
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Aadil Brar is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian ... Read more
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