JAKARTA - North Korea appears to be looking at Industry 4.0 technology such as artificial intelligence and expanding its implementation.

North Korea's main daily, Rodong Sinmun, on December 24 reported that global competition in science and technology is getting tighter, such as the use of AI in education and increasing the use of virtual reality (VR) technology and mixed reality.

Quoted from Antara, Sunday, the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, a North Korean state-run radio network, in November last year said that other countries were actively using AI to increase agricultural production.

Last year, North Korean Central Television broadcast video footage showing a newly developed VR-based education program. The program allows users to learn North Korean history and culture around the 3rd and 4th centuries BC.

North Korean state media seem to be introducing a global trend about new technologies in an effort to expand their use in agriculture and education.

However, the isolated country may also try to use it in the military field.

Kim Hyuk, researcher at the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies James Martin at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said in a report that North Korean researchers had implemented AI and machine learning (ML) for "sensitive applications, such as war games and surveillance, as well as continuing scientific collaboration with foreign scientists to date."

In a report published by 38 North, the North Korean monitoring site in the United States, Kim said, "The curvature of the war games prepared by North Korea may be a real conflict on the tactical level involving artillery weapons."

According to Kim, considering that AI/ML technology can be transferred through intangible (intangible) methods, it is important to monitor North Korea's activities and implement steps to mitigate potential sanction risks in the academic and private sectors, if needed.


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