• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.317-321
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• 2023

After 'emphasizing the development of the precision reconnaissance drone' in 2021, North Korea unveiled two strategic drones in July 2023, just two years later. Despite the majority of experts offering negative assessments and stating that "the performance may not be good," North Korea can be seen as having not only enhanced its routine surveillance capabilities through strategic drones but also possessing limited long-range strike capabilities. In other words, although the performance of North Korea's strategic unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), namely the 'Satbyol-4' and '9' models, may not match that of U.S. drones, they appear to play a significant role in offsetting North Korea's considerable aerial and surveillance inferiority compared to the joint forces of South Korea and the United States. Based on these trends, North Korea seems to be concentrating on drone development to counterbalance its considerable aerial power and surveillance capabilities deficit compared to the joint forces of South Korea and the United States, especially as the global use of drones continues to increase.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.167-172
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• 2024

In major wars of the 21st century, drones are expanding beyond surveillance and reconnaissance to include land and air as well as sea and underwater for purposes such as precision strikes, suicide attacks, and cognitive warfare. These drones will perform multi-domain operations, and to this end, they will continue to develop by improving the level of autonomy and strengthening scalability based on the High-Low Mix concept. Recently, drones have been used as a major means in major wars around the world, and there seems to be a good chance that they will evolve into game changers in the future. North Korea has also been making significant efforts to operate reconnaissance and attack drones for a long time. North Korea has recently continued to engage in provocations using drones, and its capabilities are gradually becoming more sophisticated. In addition, with the recent emergence of new strategic Drones, wartime and peacetime threats such as North Korea's use of these to secure surveillance, reconnaissance and early warning capabilities against South Korea and new types of provocations are expected to be strengthened. Through this study, we hope to provide implications by analyzing the capabilities of North Korea's strategic Drones, predicting their operation patterns, and conducting active follow-up research on the establishment of a comprehensive strategy, such as our military's drone deployment and counter-drone system solutions.