Kim Jong Un Calls for Artificial Intelligence and Automation in North Korea’s Weapons Systems

AI-Enabled Fire Control

One potential area for AI integration is fire control.

Fire-control systems help military operators determine how weapons should be used based on available information.

Advanced computerized systems can process data more rapidly than manual calculations.

AI could potentially assist with identifying relevant information and prioritizing targets.

However, AI-enabled fire control can introduce new challenges.

Military systems must operate reliably under difficult conditions.

Communications may be disrupted.

Sensors can be inaccurate.

Adversaries can use electronic warfare.

AI systems can also produce errors if their training data or assumptions are inadequate.

For these reasons, developing effective military AI requires more than simply installing software.

It requires reliable sensors, computing hardware, communications networks, software engineering, cybersecurity and testing.

North Korea’s ability to develop all these components at scale remains difficult to assess from open sources.

Artificial Intelligence and Air Defense

Kim Jong Un’s instructions reportedly cover both offensive and defensive combat systems.

This means that North Korea’s AI ambitions may extend beyond offensive weapons.

AI can potentially be applied to air-defense systems.

Air defense networks must detect and classify potentially hostile aircraft, missiles and drones.

Modern air-defense systems can use radar and other sensors to track objects.

Software can help classify objects and determine whether they represent threats.

AI could potentially assist with identifying patterns and prioritizing incoming objects.

North Korea has extensive air-defense requirements because of its geography and military environment.

Its armed forces have therefore invested in surface-to-air missile systems and other air-defense capabilities.

The integration of AI could potentially help modernize parts of this network.

Again, however, there is insufficient public information to determine exactly what AI capabilities are currently operational.

September 20, 2026 | 7:26 pm