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Defense Ministry pivots from abolishing drone command to unit reformation

Published: 19 Mar. 2026, 19:23

The front gate of the Drone Operations Command in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, on July 14, 2025 [YONHAP]

The Ministry of National Defense said Thursday it will push to reform the Drone Operations Command into a military unit tasked with overseeing drone policy and education, abandoning plans to abolish it.

The move is seen as a compromise after a special advisory committee tasked with reforming the military called on the ministry in January to scrap the command as part of a wider organizational reform following former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid in late 2024.

The ministry said it will seek to reform the command into one dedicated to advancing military drone concepts and policy as well as cooperation with the private sector amid efforts to strengthen the military's drone capabilities.

It also plans to disperse the command's operational functions across different military branches.

The drone command had been embroiled in allegations of sending drones over Pyongyang during Yoon's term in an apparent move to provoke the North and use it as a pretext for his short-lived imposition of martial law.

Yonhap