Pyongyang is set to unveil new weapons development goals at its Ninth Party Congress, amid assessments that the government has checked off only part of a sweeping list of capabilities that leader Kim Jong-un targeted at its 2021 Congress.
While nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles remain central to Kim’s strategy, analysts say the more mixed record lies in the conventional systems that could sharpen North Korea’s ability to find targets, coordinate forces and apply pressure below the nuclear threshold.
In his report to the Eighth Party Congress, Kim urged development of a range of systems, including hypersonic weapons, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, and military reconnaissance satellites and drones.
The full report also referred to the design of a new nuclear-powered submarine as being in its “final examination” stage, and said work had been completed on “unmanned striking equipment”, “means of reconnaissance and detection” and a “military reconnaissance satellite”.
Since 2021, state media has repeatedly shown Kim overseeing tests of drones, while urging that unmanned systems and artificial intelligence be prioritised.
A September analysis by 38 North, a US think-tank, said North Korea is expanding its drone programme and production capacity.
Kim has highlighted conventional strike capability as a core pillar, including “super-large” multiple rocket launcher drills and orders issued to increase production of rocket launchers.
South Korea’s military has also said North Korea supplied Russia with conventional systems such as 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers, pointing to stockpiles and industrial capacity despite sanctions.
In terms of its conventional arsenal, “the biggest achievement for Pyongyang was arms exports stemming from the Ukraine war,” said Yang Uk, a military expert at South Korea’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
Massive exports of arms cleared out its “dead stock” from wartime reserves and it is now “modernising step by step with resources freed up”. — Reuters
