Kim Jong-un asserts grip after death rumors — from China visit to drone threats

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is making a show of strength following a wave of death rumors — first with a surprise visit to China, and then by attending an unmanned aerial technology exhibition where suicide drones struck scale models of South Korean front-line guard posts (GPs).

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta on Thursday (local time), said President Donald Trump was ready to meet Kim but added that "no meeting has been scheduled yet."

South Korea's National Intelligence Service analyzed that Kim's visit to Dandong, China, over the past weekend had purposes beyond the official pretext of commemorating the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Given Kim's hands-on leadership style, the NIS said, the trip likely served as a direct inspection of the new Yalu River bridge and may also have been used to convey Pyongyang's position on North America-related talks to Chinese leadership.

The unannounced China trip effectively silenced death rumors that had spread widely on SNS. The NIS said Kim's basic health indicators have been within normal ranges based on recent public appearances, though it assessed that Kim has hyperlipidemia.

At the unmanned aerial technology exhibition — Kim's first public event after returning from China — the North Korean leader presided over a live firing of the 600mm super-large multiple rocket launcher, dubbed "Sniper," and watched drones strike mock targets modeled on South Korean military GPs and other assets. Kim declared at the event that "strength is peace, and peace can only be guaranteed by strength."

KCNA said the "Unmanned Aerial Technology Development-2026" exhibition featured a "show of force" that included tactical suicide attack drones, tactical cruise missile launches, multipurpose drone airstrikes and a firing by a 600mm multiple rocket launcher battalion.

Photos released by North Korean state media showed more than 10 rounds fired simultaneously from the 600mm super-large rocket launcher, missiles launched from unmanned aerial vehicles, and suicide drones striking scale-model targets believed to represent South Korean GPs, K9 self-propelled howitzers and US Army M1 Abrams tanks.

While North Korea has previously disclosed drone development as part of broader weapons exhibitions, this marks the first time it has held a standalone exhibition dedicated to unmanned aerial technology. The test firings and exhibition received extensive coverage in the Rodong Sinmun, the state newspaper read by North Korean citizens.

The launches came six days after South Korea's Ministry of National Defense proposed inter-Korean military talks to discuss mutual confirmation of the MDL and measures to prevent accidental clashes in border areas — amid heightened tensions following a North Korean land mine explosion south of the MDL.

Rather than responding to the South's dialogue overture, North Korea instead staged a large-scale display of force, unveiling drones and other weapons targeting the South that analysts have called "game-changers."

Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said North Korea was "declaring to the world that it possesses capabilities suited to the nature of modern warfare and that it is keeping pace with the trend of unmanned aerial vehicles emerging as the primary asset on the battlefield, as seen in the Ukraine war and Middle East conflicts."