North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed a flight drill of the country’s first female pilots of pursuit planes, Pyongyang’s state media reported Friday.
Kim instructed the full-scale training of those highly skilled airwomen himself, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The North’s military created a female aviation unit in 1993, but it largely used outdated propeller aircraft, not advanced fighter jets.
The KCNA said the airwomen successfully conducted solo take-off and landing missions under Kim’s guidance.
Kim was quoted as saying he is “very satisfied and pleased to see the emergence of excellent pursuit airwomen and their brave flight” only in a few months after he gave the instruction to train them.
“The birth of the first pursuit airwomen today is an auspicious event to be celebrated by the whole country,” he added, according to the KCNA.
The North’s main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, also carried a lengthy story on Kim’s field guidance and several related photos.
As usual, the secretive nation’s media did not elaborate on the venue for Kim’s public activity.
Apparently based on an analysis of the photos, a South Korean government official said the drill took place at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang.
It looks like the airwomen piloted MiG-15s developed in the Soviet era, the official said.
His entourage included Hwang Pyong-so, director of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Political Bureau; Jo Kyong-chol, director of the Military Security Command; and O Kum-chol, vice chief of the KPA General Staff. (Yonhap)
