Kim Jong-un celebrates Norht Korean female fighter pilots
North Korean leader highlights role of women in military, a day after state media revealed his sister’s title
By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has declared himself to be “very satisfied and pleased” with the country’s first female pilots of pursuit planes, Pyongyang’s official news agency reported Friday.
KCNA also revealed images of Kim greeting the women in question as he reportedly guided a flight drill – months after ordering a more advanced training program for the North’s female aviation unit, founded more than 20 years ago.
The aircraft used in the exercise appeared to be Soviet-era MiG-15s.
“The birth of the first pursuit airwomen today is an auspicious event to be celebrated by the whole country,” Kim was quoted as saying.
State media coverage suggests that like his late father Kim Jong-il, whose reign ended with his death in 2011, North Korea’s current leader is no stranger to visiting female military units.
Earlier this month, Seoul’s Korea Herald reported the North was seeking to recruit more female conscripts due to a troop shortage caused by widespread famine in the mid-1990s.
But despite claims that women may already make up a fifth of North Korea’s armed forces, high-ranking positions in Pyongyang’s military-dominated hierarchy are occupied by men.
Exceptions to the rule include the leader’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, who KCNA described for the first time Thursday as a “vice department director” in the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party.
North Korea watchers have even suggested that the 27-year-old could be being groomed to lead the country herself if required.
She has frequently been seen alongside her brother at public events, prompting comparisons to the role played by their aunt, Kim Kyong-hui, during their father’s rule.
Chang Yong-seok, senior researcher at a Seoul National University institute, told South Korean news agency Yonhap that Kim Yo-jong may be more influential than her aunt, whose husband was executed in December 2013 on charges of treason and corruption.
Three generations of the Kim family have ruled over the North since its foundation ahead of the 1950-53 Korean War.
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