South Korea says 2018 ‘dronebot combat unit’ a game-changer against Kim Jong-un

South Korea has a new plan for dealing with security threats posed by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un: swarming “dronebot” combat units.

The new year will bring added complications to the ongoing nuclear missile crisis between North and South Korea as drone warfare continues to evolve. A South Korean military official told the nation’s Yonhap news agency that having hundreds of small drones — all acting in concert to achieve a military objective — is on the 2018 military horizon.

“We will launch a dronebot combat unit next year and use it as a ’game-changer’ in warfare,” the army official said.

Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, told CNBC on Wednesday that South Korea’s dronebots will offer a wide spectrum capabilities.

“You could use them for assassination strikes or you could use them for preventative strikes,” Mr. Kazianis said.

Dean Cheng, a defense expert and senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, concurred.

“Drones are capable of doing some amount of surveillance and attacks against very soft targets,” Mr. Cheng told Reuters. “There’s a pretty reasonable chance they can escape detection. … What we’re hearing about is still notional. We don’t have any evidence they’ve created it yet. But we’ve seen what drones can do.”

News of South Korea’s dronebot plans comes on the heels of a report by Japan’s Asahi newspaper that said Mr. Kim’s regime is testing ways to load anthrax onto intercontinental ballistic missiles.