June 15, 2026: South Korea’s heavily fortified border with North Korea has long depended on infantry watching the DMZ/Demilitarized Zone. Technology has been continuously upgrading security. Sixteen years ago South Korea installed unmanned guard towers, equipped with sensors and machine-guns, along the DMZ. On the other side of the four kilometers wide DMZ is North Korea. Since the Korean war ended in 1953, the North Koreans have frequently sent commandos across the DMZ to do some damage, or just to show that they could do it. The last two incursions were four years ago. In both cases, South Korea troops fired on the northern soldiers, who then retreated. Subsequently, in a rare event, a South Korean criminal sought to escape arrest by crossing the DMZ into North Korea, where he sought asylum.

The new, unmanned guard towers on the DMZ are there to spare South Korean troops the tedium of manning such positions, and the risks that the North Korean might shoot at them for no reason. That happens fairly frequently. For these towers, the South Koreans are using ideas and concepts already developed and implemented in Israel.

Back in 2012 South Korea installed long-range thermal\heat-imaging sights at 53 front line positions along the 253 kilometers long North Korean border. South Korean firms already build thermal sights for armored vehicles and rifles. These have ranges from one kilometer for the rifle sight, to several kilometers for the larger-vehicle mounted sights. The new thermal sight for DMZ outposts is apparently more like the sight built for tanks, meaning that it can see to the other side of the four kilometer wide DMZ and have a clear view even at night, or with fog, of anyone crossing the middle of the DMZ. South Korean military commanders are particularly eager to avoid any more embarrassing situations where North Korean defectors simply walk across the DMZ at night with no one on the south side noticing.

Faced with a shortage of young soldiers due to declining birth rates, the South Korean military turned to AI/Artificial Intelligence. AI-enabled systems can overcome enemy defenses with cheap drones. This eliminates risks for pilots of manned aircraft and improves surveillance and target detection.