South Korea Will Deploy Drones To Counter North Korean Nuclear Missile Threat

South Korea planned to introduce a new counter to North Korea’s burgeoning nuclear weapons program: drones. South Korean news wire agency Yonhap reported Tuesday that the nation planned to roll out a new weaponized drone unit next year.

“The Army plans to set up a special organization to lead the development of dronebots, establish a standard platform and expand the dronebot program by function,” an Army official told Yonhap, asking not be named because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter. “To begin with, we will launch a dronebot combat unit next year and use it as a 'game changer' in warfare.”

The drones primary function will be for surveillance — North Korea has launched a number of ballistic missile tests this year and many of them came without warning. The drones will also be able to be weaponized in swarm attacks, according to the Independent.

The drone unit is modeled after a similar one in Israel.

North Korea has used its own drones against South Korea —in June to surveil missile defense systems and last year along the border.

In addition to the missile tests, North Korea detonated its sixth and largest nuclear weapon in September. North Korea’s continued weapons tests have put Asian countries in a tough situation. South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for engagement with North Korea, but continued North Korean provocations and prodding from the U.S. pushed South Korea to shore up its defenses. On Wednesday, Seoul announced it would increase its military budget seven percent next year, its largest jump since 2009, according to the Independent.

Moon and President Donald Trump have had diverging approaches to handling North Korea.

Trump has matched Pyongyang’s bombastic rhetoric like no U.S. president before, insulting its leader, Kim Jong Un, and threatening the country’s destruction. Trump has leaned on South Korea to be more aggressive.

“South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!” said Trump on Twitter after North Korea’s September nuclear bomb test.

Moon has remained more even-tempered.

“We can never tolerate another catastrophic war on this land. We will not give up our goal of working together with allies to seek a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” said Moon is a September press statement.

South Korea also agreed to deploy U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles, the last components of which were installed in September. THAAD is designed to shoot down short and medium-range ballistic missiles, but employment of the system caused mass demonstrations in South Korea. Many people opposed the missiles.