27/06/2026 10:59 - Internacionales
South Korea announced on June 26, 2026 an unprecedented transformation in its military strategy: training 500,000 members of its armed forces to become drone operators, according to Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back.
"All soldiers should be able to use drones as a second personal weapon," the official stated during the plan's presentation. The initiative covers personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.
Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have demonstrated that drones are a "gamechanger on the battlefield," according to Ahn. Low-cost drones operated in large quantities are fundamentally transforming the nature of warfare.
The minister warned that North Korea continues developing its military capabilities, increasing threats to both military and civilian installations in the South.
In 2022, five small North Korean drones violated South Korean airspace. One of them entered the no-fly zone over the presidential office in Seoul.
The military response was a failure: despite deploying fighter jets, attack helicopters, and firing approximately 100 rounds, they failed to shoot down any drone.
| Item | Quantity | Target Date |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial drones for training | 11,000 units | Late 2026 |
| Commercial drones (expansion) | 60,000 units | 2029 |
| Disposable combat drones | 20,000+ units | 2030 |
Seoul will accelerate the development of K-Lucas, a domestically manufactured long-range loitering munition. The system takes its name and concept from the American Lucas drone (Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System), which was itself developed based on the Iranian Shahed-136 drone, widely used by Russia in Ukraine.
The plan also includes the expansion of anti-drone systems, including laser weapons and high-power microwave systems to neutralize unmanned aerial threats.
North Korea's drone capabilities have grown considerably thanks to its deepening military partnership with Russia, according to analysts. Pyongyang has deployed thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, giving its military direct exposure to drone warfare at scale.
This collaboration provided North Korea access to combat data and tactics that would have otherwise taken years to develop.
On June 26, 2026, North Korea announced that its leader Kim Jong-un supervised tests of tactical ballistic missiles and an improved rocket artillery system with a range of 90 km, as part of efforts to reinforce firepower along its southern border.
Kim has pledged to expand North Korea's nuclear arsenal at an "exponential rate," describing nuclear expansion as the "most correct and only way" to face an increasingly unstable world.
Loitering munitions (also called "suicide drones") are unmanned aircraft designed to remain airborne until identifying a target, at which point they crash into it, destroying themselves on impact. The Iranian Shahed-136 model, the basis for South Korea's K-Lucas system, costs approximately $20,000 per unit—a fraction of the cost of conventional missiles—allowing them to be deployed in swarms to overwhelm enemy defenses. Russia has used thousands of these devices in Ukraine with devastating effects.
The Korean Peninsula remains one of the world's most heavily militarized regions since the Korean War (1950-1953) ended in an armistice without a formal peace treaty. South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea) is a democratic nation of approximately 52 million people and hosts around 28,500 U.S. troops. North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is an authoritarian state of about 26 million people under Kim Jong-un's rule. The two nations share a 238 km border known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), one of the most fortified borders in the world.
Source: The Guardian
Alfredo S. Quiroga
