The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) guided the defence science research work of the country's Unmanned Aeronautical Technology Complex and the detective electronic warfare research group on Tuesday and Wednesday, state media reported on Thursday.

Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, learned about various kinds of reconnaissance and suicide attack drones, which are newly developed and being produced by an institute and enterprises under the Unmanned Aeronautical Technology Complex, and oversaw their performance test, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The test proved the innovative performance of a new-type strategic reconnaissance drone and demonstrated the capabilities of suicide drones to be used for various tactical attack missions, the KCNA said.

"The field of unmanned equipment and artificial intelligence should be top-prioritized and developed in modernizing the armed forces," Kim was quoted by the KCNA as saying.

The DPRK leader stressed the importance of correctly shaping the state long-term plan for promoting the rapid development of the work to use intelligent drones, in keeping with the trend of modern warfare in which the competition for using intelligent drones as a major military means is being accelerated and the range of their use is steadily expanding in military activities, according to the KCNA report.

In addition, Kim also learned about the performance of reconnaissance and intelligence gathering means and electronic jamming and attack systems newly developed by the detective electronic warfare research group and its long-term plan, the KCNA reported.

The DPRK leader said the special means developed with up-to-date technology would play a big role in monitoring the potential threats and collecting vital intelligence, and expressed his great satisfaction over the new electronic jamming and attack weapon systems that began to be produced, it added.