North Korea May Be Developing a Dirty Bomb Drone

According to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, Kim Jong-un may have begun to develop a dirty bomb drone in 2012, shortly after the death of his father Kim Il-sung. The Banghyun-5 drone, as it is supposedly called, is made of titanium and carbon composites and has a 900-liter fuel tank, allowing it to fly for up to 10 hours. The drone is designed to carry a payload of enriched uranium, which North Korea is believed to possess as a result of its nuclear weapons program. Thereby conventional explosives such as TNT or dynamite are used to spread radioactive material and the more powerful the explosive, the wider the contaminated area.

North Korea has constantly been improving the stealth functions of unmanned aerial vehicles since 2000. The Banghyun 5 is designed to deliver radioactive material to South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae and other major facilities. In addition, these new drones could be used to kill key enemy targets or be aimed against the civil population.

Recently, the communist regime had been developing a variety of strategic weapons including an unmanned long-range aerial vehicle that could reach the United States and a nuclear-powered submarine that can carry submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the executive director said.

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