North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has met with the country’s first female fighter jet pilots, calling them “heroes of Korea” and “flowers of the sky.”
Pilots Jo Kum Hyang and Rim Sol wept as they were presented with bouquets in front of their leader, who attributed their successful solo flights to their “noble revolutionary spirit, ideological acceptance of the party’s training-first policy and loyalty to the Supreme Commander,” KCNA, North Korea’s state news agency reported.
Kim watched on as they performed take-off and landing drills. It was not clear exactly when they took place.
State media has been praising the prowess of the Korean People’s Air Force (KPAF) in recent months, but the planes on the airfield told a different story.
The pilots were flying what appeared to be Soviet era MiG-21 supersonic fighter jets or a Chinese version of that aircraft — the Chengdu J-7 supersonic fighter jet.
The MiG-21 first came into service in the late 1950s and saw considerable service in the Vietnam War.
The KPAF is estimated to be the fourth largest air force in the world, with 110,000 service personnel and 820 combat aircraft.
But there is considerable doubt as to how many of those aircraft, some of them dating back to the 1950s, are airworthy.
Visitors to Pyongyang are often surprised by the sight of antiquated biplanes on the runway.
North Korea’s most advanced combat aircraft, nearly three dozen MiG-29’s, were purchased from the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.
A lack of fuel, spare parts and the need to conserve the aging fleet mean pilots can log only a handful of flying hours a year.
However, that does not seem to discourage Jo Kum Hyang and Rim Sol.
KCNA reported that they tearfully thanked Kim “for giving them wings to fly and courage.”
They pledged themselves to fly “in the aerial front line, to safeguard Kim Jong Un through a thousand miles of clouds and ten thousand miles of fire.”