Reports from North Korea reveal an unsettling development in military strategy: the push to build artificial intelligence–based systems for future combat. According to Daily NK, “the Combat Training Bureau of the General Staff Department (GSD) on Aug. 2 issued an official order…instructing them to ‘make plans to build AI-based manned and unmanned multipurpose combat systems ahead of the Ninth Party Congress.’”
This directive was sent to all branches of the Korean People’s Army, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Special Operations Forces, and the Strategic Force. Each has been tasked with creating specific plans, ranging from naval EMP and minesweeping operations to the Air Force’s “tactical drills using mixed formations of manned and unmanned formations” (Daily NK). Most concerning, the Strategic Force has been ordered to develop a four-stage strategy to apply AI in “storing, operating, and commanding nuclear weapons, as well as launching nuclear counterattacks,” according to Daily NK.
PRAYER FOR THE INNOCENT VICTIMS OF WAR
A New Era of Warfare
The order aims to modernize the military under the next five-year strategy. Trial units are to begin training with these AI-driven systems as soon as December. While planners in Pyongyang see these steps as necessary, “working-level commanders in low-tier units and officers responsible for executing the order feel pressure because they have so little time to prepare” (Daily NK).
This highlights the growing global race to integrate AI into warfare. As Catholics, we are called to confront these developments with moral clarity. The Catechism reminds us: “Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man” (CCC 2314). When artificial intelligence is fused with nuclear capability, the threat to innocent life becomes even more severe.
The Catholic Response
The Church does not stand silent in the face of such innovations. Pope Francis has repeatedly warned against the dangers of unrestrained technology, reminding us in Laudato Si’ that “technology severed from ethics will not easily be able to limit its own power.” The prospect of AI being used to plan, command, and execute attacks—especially with nuclear weapons—embodies this danger.
For Catholics, this moment is not just about geopolitical observation. It is a summons to prayer, advocacy, and reflection. We must pray for peace on the Korean Peninsula and for all leaders to pursue the common good rather than destruction. We are also called to support international efforts to regulate autonomous weapons and promote disarmament rooted in human dignity.
North Korea’s push to develop AI-based combat systems, including nuclear command, should not only alert governments and militaries, but also stir the conscience of the faithful. As Daily NK reports, the urgency of these plans signals how quickly warfare is changing. The Church must continue to be a prophetic voice reminding the world: true security will never be built on smarter weapons, but on deeper respect for the sanctity of human life.
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