North Korea tests exploding drones as Seoul, US hold military drills

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a demonstration of new exploding drones designed to crash into targets, state media said Monday, as the U.S. and South Korea engage in joint military drills.

North Korean test photos showed a white drone with X-shaped tails and wings supposedly crashing into and destroying a target resembling South Korea’s main K-2 battle tank. Most combat drones stand off from targets and fire missiles.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday’s test involved various types of drones built to fly different ranges to attack enemy targets on land and sea and flew along various routes before accurately hitting test targets. After the test, Kim pledged to spur the development of drones that explode on impact, conduct reconnaissance or attack targets underwater to boost his country's war readiness, saying the North’s military should be equipped with advanced drones “as early as possible," KCNA said.

The drone test came as the U.S. and South Korean militaries conduct the large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield drills , which continue through Thursday. The exercises focus on enhancing their readiness against North Korean threats and include computer-simulated war games and live-fire training, with a combined aerial drill involving 60 warplanes that began its three-day run on Monday.

South Korea’s air force said the drill, which kicked off with precision-bombing demonstrations that included South Korean F-35 and F-16 fighter jets , is aimed at coping with North Korean threats posed by drones, cruise missiles and artillery.

The United States and South Korea also began Monday a separate amphibious landing drill involving dozens of aircraft and vessels from their navies and marines, including U.S. F-35 fighters and amphibious assault ship Boxer. South Korea’s military said the Ssangyong Exercise, which will continue through Sept. 7, is aimed at sharpening combat interoperability.

Lee Chang Hyun, spokesperson of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing that South Korea’s military was closely examining North Korea’s drone capabilities and that the South’s military is equipped with systems to detect and intercept them, without providing further details.

Some analysts suggest the North Korean drones shown in state media photos resemble Russia’s Zala Lancet-3 drones, and Lee said the South was looking into the possibility Russia had helped North Korea acquire its drone capability.

“We are aware that during the past exchanges between North Korea and Russia that some (drones) were given (to North Korea) as gifts,” Lee said. “We would need to analyze various aspects, including whether (North Korea) would have modified to improve their capabilities or other possibilities.”

North Korea and Russia have been aligning closely in the face of their separate confrontations with the U.S. Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin held summits this June and in September last year.

Washington and its allies have accused the countries of expanding an alleged arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Putin with badly needed munitions to prolong Russia's fighting in Ukraine in exchange for economic aid and technologies to upgrade Kim’s nuclear-armed military.

Animosity on the Korean Peninsula is high as Kim uses Russia’s war against Ukraine as a distraction while he strengthens his nuclear-armed military and issues verbal threats of conflict toward Washington and Seoul. While most of the international attention has been focused on his long-range missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland, Kim has also been expanding weapons targeting rival South Korea, most notably short-range missiles and artillery systems the North has described as nuclear-capable.

Earlier this month, Kim staged a huge ceremony in the capital, Pyongyang, to mark the delivery of 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units and called for a ceaseless expansion of the military’s nuclear program. This added to concerns as he demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the North’s border with South Korea and claimed his military could react with preemptive nuclear strikes if it perceived the leadership was under threat.

In a closed-door briefing to lawmakers on Monday, South Korea’s spy agency said it’s unclear whether North Korea is currently capable of producing enough missiles to fill up those launch vehicles, which are each designed to fire multiple missiles with potential range to cover most of South Korea’s greater capital area and central regions.

The agency said the North has been focusing its manufacturing capacities on producing missiles and other military equipment that are being supplied to Russia, according to the office of lawmaker Park Sun-won, who attended the briefing.

Analysts say Kim may seek to dial up pressure in a U.S. election year as he advances his long-term goals of forcing Washington to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

韩国首尔——据朝鲜官方媒体周一报道，朝鲜领导人金正恩视察了新型爆炸无人机的演示，这种无人机旨在撞击目标。与此同时，美国和韩国正在进行联合军事演习。

朝鲜公布的试飞照片显示，一架白色无人机尾翼呈X形，据称撞毁了一个类似韩国主战坦克K-2的目标。大多数作战无人机都是与目标保持一定距离并发射导弹。

朝鲜官方通讯社朝中社周六报道称，此次试飞使用了多种类型的无人机，这些无人机飞行距离各异，旨在攻击陆地和海上的敌方目标。试飞过程中，无人机沿不同航线飞行，最终精准击中了测试目标。朝中社援引金正恩的话说，试飞结束后，金正恩承诺将加快研发撞击爆炸式、侦察型或水下攻击型无人机，以提升朝鲜的战备水平，并表示朝鲜军队应“尽快”装备先进无人机。

此次无人机测试正值美韩两军进行大规模“乙支自由之盾”联合军演之际，该演习将持续至周四。演习旨在提升双方应对朝鲜威胁的战备能力，内容包括计算机模拟战争游戏和实弹射击训练，其中一项为期三天的联合空中演习已于周一开始，共有60架战机参与。

韩国空军表示，此次演习以精确轰炸演示拉开帷幕，韩国F-35和F-16战斗机均参与了演示，旨在应对朝鲜无人机、巡航导弹和火炮构成的威胁。

美国和韩国周一也启动了一项独立的两栖登陆演习，两国海军和海军陆战队出动了数十架飞机和舰艇，其中包括美国的F-35战斗机和两栖攻击舰“拳师”号。韩国军方表示，此次代号为“双龙演习”的演习将持续到9月7日，旨在提升双方的作战协同能力。

韩国联合参谋本部发言人李昌铉在新闻发布会上表示，韩国军方正在密切关注朝鲜的无人机能力，韩国军方已配备探测和拦截无人机的系统，但他没有提供更多细节。

一些分析人士认为，朝鲜官方媒体照片中显示的朝鲜无人机与俄罗斯的Zala Lancet-3无人机相似，李表示，韩国正在调查俄罗斯是否帮助朝鲜获得了无人机能力。

李说：“我们了解到，在过去朝鲜和俄罗斯的交流中，俄罗斯曾向朝鲜赠送过一些无人机。我们需要分析各个方面，包括朝鲜是否对这些无人机进行了改进以提升其性能，以及其他可能性。”

面对各自与美国的对抗，朝鲜和俄罗斯一直在密切结盟。金正恩和俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京分别于今年6月和去年9月举行了峰会。

华盛顿及其盟友指责这些国家扩大所谓的军备安排，根据该安排，朝鲜向普京提供急需的弹药，以延长俄罗斯在乌克兰的战斗，换取经济援助和技术，以升级金正恩的核武军队。

朝鲜半岛的敌对情绪高涨，金正恩利用俄罗斯入侵乌克兰的战争转移公众注意力，同时加强其核武库建设，并对华盛顿和首尔发出战争威胁。尽管国际社会的关注焦点大多集中在金正恩旨在打击美国本土的远程导弹上，但他也在不断扩充针对韩国的武器装备，尤其是朝鲜声称具备核能力的短程导弹和火炮系统。

本月初，金正恩在首都平壤举行盛大仪式，庆祝向一线部队交付250套可携带核弹头的导弹发射装置，并呼吁持续扩大军队的核计划。此举加剧了人们的担忧，因为他展现出在朝韩边境部署战场核武器的意图，并声称如果领导层感到受到威胁，朝鲜军队可以进行先发制人的核打击。

韩国情报机构周一向国会议员举行闭门简报会，称目前尚不清楚朝鲜是否有能力生产足够的导弹来装满这些运载火箭。这些运载火箭的设计目的是发射多枚导弹，其射程足以覆盖韩国首都圈和中部地区的大部分区域。

据出席简报会的国会议员朴善源办公室称，该机构表示，朝鲜一直将其制造能力集中用于生产导弹和其他军事装备，这些装备正供应给俄罗斯。

分析人士称，金正恩可能会在美国大选年加大施压力度，以推进其长期目标，即迫使华盛顿接受朝鲜作为核大国的理念，并从实力地位出发，就经济和安全方面的让步进行谈判。