North Korea shows off fighter jets at first international air show

Asia-Pacific, News September 29, 2016 , by IRIA No Comments

Pyongyang’s first air show took place amid growing tensions with the U.S. over North Korea’s continued development of missiles and nuclear weapons

North Korea just held its first international air show at a newly upgraded airport in Wonsan city, featuring fighter jets, sky diving, aerobatic demonstrations, model planes.

The Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival, the first of its kind in the country, held at Kalma International Airport.

The Pyongyang’s first air show took place amid growing tensions with the U.S. over North Korea’s continued development of missiles and nuclear weapons. Following the fifth nuclear test this month, U.S. Air Force B-1Bs bombers, but also has conducted extended deterrence missions south of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).

The event, attended by both civilian and military aircraft, was an opportunity for aviation enthusiasts from all around the world to photograph some of the world’s rarest combat planes.

Some of the aircrafts at the North Korea Air show 2016 included the North Korean Air Force Mig-29 Fulcrum and Su-25 Frogfoot (both acquired from Moscow), Mig-21Bis Fishbed, Mi-8T Hip and Y-5s and the country’s state-owned national flag carrier Air Koryo.

Sukhoi SU-25 aircraft perform during the first Wonsan Friendship Air Festival in Wonsan, North Korea, on Saturday. | AFP-JIJI

Sukhoi SU-25 aircraft perform during the first Wonsan Friendship Air Festival in Wonsan, North Korea, on Saturday. Photo: AFP-JIJI

The show kicked off with an aerial display by a U.S. Hughes MD-500 military helicopter — one of a number acquired in the 1980s by using a third country to circumvent U.S. export restrictions.

The Hughes helicopter was followed by an extended solo acrobatic display by the most advanced aircraft in the North Korean air force – an early-model Soviet-built Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum which made several ear-splitting low passes over the crowd.

The state airline Air Koryo also took part in the air show with its Tu-134, Tu-154 and Il-62 aircraft.

Pyongyang invited thousands of North Koreans and hundreds of foreign tourists and journalists to the air show. A crowd highlight was a formation display of two Soviet-era MiG-21s piloted by North Korea’s first two female jet fighter pilots. The women, Jo Kum-Hyang and Rim Sol, shot to national fame last year when leader Kim Jong-Un dubbed them “flowers of the sky” after watching one of their training sessions.

“This plane is faster than other airplanes and can maneuver quickly, so there is little time to think, you must make fast decisions,” Rim Sol, a MiG-21 pilot said, standing beside her fighter on the tarmac.

North Korea has called the festival “a non-political event organized to bring together aviation and air sports enthusiasts from around the world to share in their passion.”