This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
For the first time, North Korea is adding drone training to its annual civil defense military drills, but the lack of available drones means that the training will amount to reading about drones, not actually flying them, military sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.
The move shows the increased role that drones will have North Korea’s arsenal. Last month, supreme leader Kim Jong Un visited a test site for unmanned attack aircraft and said he wanted the country to begin mass producing “suicide” drones that explode when flown into targets.
The training in their use is now being extended to the thousands of ordinary citizens in North Korea’s civil defense forces, paramilitary units that defend cities and towns. Most members of civil defense forces are reservists who have previously served in the military, which is mandatory for all able-bodied men and women.
But the actual number of drones for such drills appears to be in short supply.
“There are no actual drones, so only theoretical training is being conducted,” a member of the civil defense force in the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for personal safety.
“However, from what I know, training drones will be supplied to each North Korean People’s Army brigade, city, county, and civil defense force within the next year,” he said.
He said the training amounted to explanations about the practical applications of drones on the battlefield, and instructions on how to use them.
RFA Korean interviewed two drone experts who said there was a strong possibility that North Korean troops sent to Russia could begin using drones supplied by Russia in the war with Ukraine.
Drone training for all soldiers
The winter training period for civil defense units calls up reserves in shifts from December to March for 15 days — which many secretly regard as a nuisance.
A member of the military in the same province said that Kim Jong Un secretly ordered “all soldiers who fire guns” — meaning those who can be deployed in combat roles — to learn to use drones.
“People’s Army units have already been training to use military drones since … last year, but now … drone training will also be provided to civil defense force members … starting in December,” he said on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“No matter how politically and ideologically armed an army is, it cannot win a modern war if it does not possess excellent military technology.”
North Korea is also looking for ways to improve its capacity to produce drones domestically, he said.
“This year, new drone technology courses were opened at Kim Jong Un National Defense University, Pyongyang University of Automation, and Kim Chaek Air Force University,” he said. “Drone pilot training is being conducted at Kim Il Sung Military University and Kang Kon Military Academy.”
All of those schools ramped up drone development research this year, he said. But development and production are not the same.
In North Korea, “there are so many cases of successful development but failed production, so it is difficult to determine when and to what extent military drones will actually be distributed.”
