Source: Direct News
According to the report of the Korean Central News Agency quoted by China News Network on the 19th, Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the State Council, guided the performance test of unmanned weapons and equipment developed and produced by research institutes and enterprises affiliated to the Unmanned Aviation Technology Consortium on September 18th.
According to the report, Kim Jong-un specifically learned about the performance and combat applicability of various unmanned weapons and equipment such as strategic and tactical unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and multi-purpose drones.
The report also noted that “the trials carried out on the same day clearly proved the military strategic value of the unmanned strategic reconnaissance aircraft and its innovative performance, and the excellent combat effectiveness of the Venus series of tactical unmanned attack aircraft.”
This is the first time that the North Korean media has mentioned the name of the "Venus" series of tactical unmanned attack aircraft.
What does “Venus” mean?
For example, in recent years, some North Korean naval vessels have been named after the names of the Korean revolutionary history, and the destroyers of the "Trai Wei" class that just landed this year, and the new submarines of the "King Yuan Hero" in 2024 are all named after the Korean national heroes.
There are also those named after specific names, such as North Korea's "Hwasong" missile family, with ranges from medium and short range to medium and long range to intercontinental, such as "Hwasong-6", "Song-11", "Hwasong-11A", etc.; Submarine-launched missiles are often named "Polaris", such as "Polaris-1" and "Polaris-3"; In addition, there are "Arrow" series of strategic cruise missiles, such as "Arrow-1" and "Arrow-2".
The outside world will also usually not be able to get the well-known North Korean weapons by the year and place, such as the "63 type" semi-automatic rifle officially produced in 1963; the M2018 type 122 mm self-added cannon and 130 mm self-added cannon appeared at the 70th anniversary parade of the founding of the country; "2018" has been speculated by the outside world as the type year related information; and some weapons have been named because of the locations first discovered by the outside world, such as the "Guy Mountain cannon".
This time, it is the first time that the name "Venus" appears. In North Korea, "Venus" has important symbolic significance. Many state-owned enterprises in North Korea are named after "Venus", such as Venus Youth Publishing House and Venus Tractor Factory.
Most importantly, North Korea describes the highest honor of the country with "Golden Star", which is a medal awarded by North Korea to those who have made outstanding contributions to the country. On December 19th, 2011, North Korea posthumously awarded the late leader Kim Jong Il the title of "Hero of the Republic", and awarded the Golden Star Medal and the First-Class National Flag Medal. Peng Dehuai, Yang Gensi, Huang Jiguang and other Chinese volunteer officers and men have also won the "Golden Star Medal".
The commander of the Chinese People's Revolutionary Military Museum Tibet Pond Wei was awarded the Medal of the North Korean Flag and the Venus Medal.
In August this year, Kim Jong-un awarded several people the "Venus Medal".
North Korea named the series of tactical drones with "Venus" this time, enough to show the importance of drone weapons.There is an analysis that the name "Venus" may mean to highlight the advanced and combat effectiveness of the series of tactical drones, and can also be distinguished from the "New Star" series of drones that have emerged.
North Korea showed several drones, this time without a mosaic
Three drones appeared in the news photos of the DPRK, one of which has also appeared in previous news, because the shape is similar to the U.S. RQ-4 "Global Eagle" drone, the outside world generally called it the Korean version "Global Eagle", the outside world believes that this is the "New Star-4" drone.
News Photo of September 19, 2025
U.S. Global Eagle drone photo
The other two suicide drones may include the "Venus" series. One of the cross-shaped drones also appeared in the report of the Korean Central News Agency on March 27th this year. From the picture, this drone had not been painted at that time. The report said that "the unmanned strategic reconnaissance aircraft has the detection ability to track and monitor different strategic objects and enemy ground and sea activities. The test also fully demonstrated the strike capability of self-exploding drones that can be used in various tactical attack missions."
News Photo of 27 March 2025
News Photo of September 19, 2025
The other photo of the drone is not very clear, but some analysts believe that it is likely to appear on the left side of the photo in the Korean news agency in August 2024. The drone looks a little like the Israeli-made suicide drone "HAROP" because it looks like a shark.
News Photos of August 2024
News Photo of September 19, 2025
AI+ drone, Kim Jong-un attaches great importance
It is worth noting that Kim Jong-un once again mentioned AI in guiding the work of the unmanned aviation technology consortium. he said, "The reality requires us to highlight the modernization of the core technology and the artificial intelligence and operational capabilities of unmanned weapons equipment systems in this field as the biggest task of modernizing the construction of China's armed forces."
As early as August 2024, Kim Jong-un mentioned that "drone development should develop in the direction of actively adopting artificial intelligence technology".
In recent years, North Korea has begun to attach importance to the application of artificial intelligence in the military field. Kim Jong-un once said, "In the cause of military modernization, the fields of unmanned equipment and artificial intelligence technology are the sectors that should be given the highest priority and developed". When the North Korean destroyer "Cui Xian" was launched in June this year, Kim Jong-un said that "through the development of a composite onboard weapon integrated management system, the application of artificial intelligence technology in the combat environment and the development direction of its field have been determined".
In personnel training, North Korea has also set up a special artificial intelligence discipline. The goal of North Korea's Jince University of Technology is to build a research university, and one of its tasks is to build an artificial intelligence laboratory. Kim Il Sung University in North Korea has strengthened international cooperation in artificial intelligence technology, sending international students, interns and graduate students to Russia and other countries.
In June 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un signed the "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty" in Pyongyang, one of which includes "the two sides develop scientific and technological fields including aerospace, biology, peaceful atomic energy, artificial intelligence, information technology and other fields. field exchanges and cooperation, and actively encourage joint research."
Author Liu Ying
Edited by Chen
Edited by Morning Lu.
Reviewer 丨 Song Jingjing
Surveillance of King.