North Korea Tests Exploding Drones as Kim Calls for Mass Production

Seoul: North Korea tested exploding drones designed to crash into targets and leer Kim Jong Un called for accelerating mass production of weapons, state media said Friday.

country's latest military demonstration came as United States, South Korea and Japan engaged in combined military exercises involving vanced fighter jets and a US aircraft carrier in nearby international waters, in a display of ir defence posture against North Korea.

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

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 weapons' development process and stressed 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. report did not say if Kim spoke directly about rival South Korea, which 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 North's capital of Pyongyang, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. South Korea's military has refused to confirm wher or not North's claims were true.

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

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

In dition 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 South and disrupting GPS signals from border areas near 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, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba this week at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Peru.

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