North Korea tests AI-assisted torpedo system

North Korea announced on Saturday that it had successfully test-fired a new AI-assisted precision torpedo system designed to enhance target detection capabilities, state media reported, as Pyongyang accelerates weapons development amid rising tensions with Seoul and growing speculation over a possible summit with US President Donald Trump. The Korean Central News Agency said the underwater test-fire of the "super-speed" Zam-2.0 torpedo took place on Thursday "to confirm the successful technical updating" of the weapon. "AI technology was applied to the target detection and the guidance function of the new-type super-speed precisely guided torpedo," KCNA said. The agency noted the test proved core technologies for raising propulsion efficiency and rocket propulsion device performance, adding the system had completed more than 180 rounds of testing over the past five years.

Underwater warfare capabilities

Torpedoes are designed to strike enemy targets underwater at high speed, but analysts say the introduction of artificial intelligence could allow North Korea to carry out evasive manoeuvres and make autonomous decisions to confuse an adversary. "South Korea and the United States deploy decoy targets to divert torpedoes, but AI could potentially help distinguish real targets from decoys," Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, told AFP. Lim added that Pyongyang is "pouring resources into demonstrating that US strategic assets can be rendered ineffective" across multiple domains including torpedoes and submarine-launched weapons.

Hypersonic missile rivalry

The announcement came days after Pyongyang test-fired two types of cruise missiles from a submarine, which followed weeks of friction with Seoul over a landmine explosion along their border. Earlier this month, North Korea claimed it had launched an AI-assisted intermediate-range hypersonic missile, stating there was "no way to avoid" the weapon which was "capable of changing its flight orbit at a low altitude." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had emphasised in September the need to raise "the level of artificial intelligence" in the country's weapons systems. Days after Pyongyang's hypersonic announcement, Seoul test-fired its own hypersonic glide vehicle, which it described as a key strategic asset capable of changing battlefield dynamics, prompting North Korea to cast doubt on the test and suggest Seoul "failed to achieve hypersonic flight."

Diplomatic context

Analysts suggest North Korea could be rapidly advancing its missile and weapons technology with support from Russia received in exchange for sending troops to support Moscow's war against Ukraine. The latest tests come amid growing speculation over a possible meeting between Trump and Kim at November's APEC summit in China, with Trump stating this week he "may" meet the North Korean leader during his upcoming Asia tour. Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP that ahead of a potential summit, Pyongyang appears to be "playing down South Korea's hypersonic missile programme to portray itself as ahead of Seoul -- Washington's ally -- in the arms race." However, Yang noted that at high speeds underwater, torpedoes generate significant noise that makes detection easier, and "reducing that noise is a major technical challenge requiring advanced technology -- and North Korea does not yet appear to have reached that level."