North Korea showed off attack drones and cruise missiles and test-fired a large-caliber rocket launcher system, state-run media reported Friday

SEOUL, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- North Korea showed off attack drones and cruise missiles and test-fired a large-caliber rocket launcher system as leader Kim Jong Un called for accelerated development of unmanned weapons, state-run media reported Friday.

Kim attended Thursday's demonstration alongside an exhibition of unmanned aviation technology, the Korean Central News Agency reported. Weapons shown included suicide attack drones, air-to-surface missiles fired from multipurpose drones, tactical cruise missiles and a battalion of 600mm multiple rocket launchers.

South Korea's military reported detecting around a dozen projectiles, including short-range ballistic missiles, launched Thursday from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea.

Those weapons flew about 155 miles, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were analyzing their precise specifications.

KCNA said a 600mm "ultra-precision" multiple rocket launcher called "Sniper" fired before the public for the first time during the demonstration. It did not disclose the location or flight distances.

Photos released by North Korean media showed more than 10 of the rocket launchers firing simultaneously, drones launching missiles and suicide attack drones hitting targets resembling guard posts and tanks.

KCNA said the drones and missiles struck an islet target with "100 percent accuracy."

In remarks at the exhibition, Kim said that "absolute superiority" in drone technology was an "indispensable option" given the changing patterns of modern warfare, according to KCNA.

"The scientists of our country should go all out for obtaining miraculous results in development of unmanned aeronautical technology and AI for national defense," he said.

Kim has repeatedly pushed to expand North Korea's drone capabilities, ordering mass production of suicide attack drones in November 2024 and overseeing tests of AI-equipped attack drones in March 2025.

North Korea could gain technical expertise in mass-producing drones through workers sent to Russia's Alabuga manufacturing complex, according to a report published this month by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the George W. Bush Institute.

Authors Victor Cha, Korea Chair at CSIS, and Joseph Kim, program manager at the Bush Institute, said North Korean technicians could return with lessons from assembling Russia's Iranian-designed Geran attack drones.

"A North Korea with a more sophisticated and growing drone program poses a new order of military challenge for South Korea, Japan and U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific," the report said.

It cited findings by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team on overseas labor operations that help fund Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs, a focus of a joint statement issued Wednesday by the United States, South Korea and other partners backing sanctions enforcement.

In a separate statement Friday, North Korea's Defense Ministry accused Washington and Seoul of escalating military tensions through joint exercises, including the Freedom Flag air drill, which began Monday.

The ministry warned that military activity combined with tensions along the inter-Korean border risked triggering an "unexpected armed conflict."

Seoul last week proposed military talks to clarify the border's location and prevent accidental clashes following September mine blasts inside the Demilitarized Zone that wounded three South Korean military personnel.

South Korea's military and the U.S.-led United Nations Command determined that North Korean mines south of the Military Demarcation Line caused the blasts, while Pyongyang denied responsibility.

"Our armed forces will thoroughly deter threats with force and only act in such manner that the enemy states can understand," the ministry statement said.