A drone believed to be from North Korea flew to the site of a controversial U.S. missile-defense battery in South Korea to take photos, a spokesman for Seoul’s defense ministry said.

Tuesday’s disclosure highlights North Korea’s growing capabilities with unmanned aerial vehicles. The drone, which South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense had identified last week after it crashed in eastern South Korea, carried a Sony camera and a 64-gigabyte memory chip that contained about 10 photos of the site where the U.S. has deployed...