North Korea is rapidly advancing its drone warfare capabilities by drawing lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war, even as South Korea’s efforts to keep pace remain bogged down by procurement delays and bureaucratic red tape, observers warn.
They also caution that cryptocurrency theft has become a crucial source of funding for Pyongyang’s weapons programmes, following US Federal Bureau of Investigation allegations that North Korean state-backed hackers stole more than US$6 billion from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Against this backdrop, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defence has reorganised its existing drone unit into the newly inaugurated Defence Drone Headquarters.