AI at the core of North Korea's drone buildup as Kim Jong Un oversees tests

North Korea puts AI at the center of its unmanned weapons push

North Korea's state media says Kim Jong Un has made artificial intelligence a "top priority" for modernizing weapons and growing drone capabilities. During a visit to the Unmanned Aeronautical Technology Complex in Pyongyang, he oversaw tests of multipurpose drones and unmanned surveillance aircraft, according to KCNA.

KCNA reported that Kim urged accelerating AI development to boost unmanned systems and to increase and strengthen serial production capacity for drones. The focus signals a sustained push to embed autonomy and analytics across surveillance and strike platforms.

The visit came a week after Kim observed a test of a new solid-fuel rocket engine for intercontinental ballistic missiles. He framed the outcome as a major step in Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities.

The Defense Intelligence Agency notes that North Korea fields nuclear-armed ballistic and cruise missiles, a growing nuclear stockpile, and a nascent spy satellite program. Active-duty personnel are estimated at about one million, backed by more than seven million reservists out of a population of roughly 25.6 million.

North Korea's AI maturity is less clear. Independent analysis from 38 North found cross-border academic collaboration in AI with researchers in the United States, China, and South Korea despite sanctions, pointing to substantial efforts to catch up. Much of that activity appears to lean on China's ecosystem.

Pyongyang has also tightened ties with Moscow alongside long-standing reliance on Beijing. A mutual defense treaty with Russia drew scrutiny in the West; a German think tank estimates North Korea provided nearly $10bn in weapons and tens of thousands of troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine, while receiving an estimated $457m-$1.19bn in return, mainly food, fuel, air defense systems, and possibly some fighter aircraft.

Earlier this month, Kim appeared in Beijing with China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin, signaling a bid for greater visibility on the global stage. In May, the DIA assessed North Korea is in its strongest strategic position in decades, able to hold at risk U.S. forces and allies in Northeast Asia while improving its ability to threaten the U.S.

Kim continues to denounce joint U.S.-South Korea drills, calling them "a rehearsal of a war of aggression."

Why it matters for government, IT, and development leaders

• Defense and policy: Expect more autonomous ISR and strike drones, swarming concepts, and target-recognition claims. Plan for counter-UAS, tighter export controls, and sanctions enforcement across chips, optics, RF components, and composites.
• IT and security: Watch for edge AI adoption under compute constraints and data scarcity. Strengthen defenses for GPS-denied navigation, spoofing/jamming, and AI-enabled command-and-control traffic patterns.
• Engineering and R&D: Dual-use research paths through academic collaboration persist. Tighten compliance on cross-border partnerships, model/data sharing, and open-source contributions that could transfer sensitive capability.
• Logistics and procurement: Monitor illicit acquisition networks for semiconductors, sensors, and propulsion materials. Audit suppliers and intermediaries for diversion risk.

What to watch next

• Evidence of scaled drone output: new variants, parades, factory imagery, and unit deployments.
• Further solid-fuel engine milestones and any ICBM flight tests.
• Activity at the Unmanned Aeronautical Technology Complex in Pyongyang via commercial satellite imagery.
• Channels for AI compute and tooling via China or Russia, including cloud access and model weight transfers.
• New sanctions or export-control actions targeting AI chips, EW components, optics, and materials.

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