North Korea says missile test involved artificial intelligence

North Korea said Saturday it had tested an intermediate-range strategic missile equipped with artificial intelligence, hours after South Korea reported that Pyongyang had launched a ballistic missile.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea and travelled more than 700 kilometres. South Korea, the US and Japan maintained close information sharing on the launch, it said.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, later identified the weapon as an intermediate-range strategic missile. She said it could change its flight trajectory at low altitude and that AI had been incorporated into the system, without providing details.

Kim claimed the technology made the missile difficult to evade and said North Korea had used a “wave-like trajectory mode” that South Korea had failed to track from the first skip points.

The claim came days after South Korea’s military demanded an apology from North Korea over an explosion in the Demilitarized Zone that wounded three South Korean soldiers. Seoul and the US-led United Nations Command said the blast was caused by North Korean mines laid on the South Korean side of the border.

North Korea has denied responsibility for the explosion. Kim Yo Jong on Friday called South Korea “despicable” and dismissed President Lee Jae Myung’s call for a return to dialogue.

Analysts said the missile launch could be viewed as a show of force in response to Seoul’s diplomatic efforts. Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies, said Pyongyang was signalling confrontation in response to Seoul’s overtures.

Hong Sung-pyo of the Korea Institute for Military Affairs said AI was increasingly being incorporated into military technology, but it was too early to determine whether North Korea’s claims about the missile’s capabilities were accurate.