LONDON – New camouflage variants of North Korea’s three Ilyushin-76 (IL-76) air lifter planes were spotted for the first time in June, but a photo obtained this week by NK News suggests they were nothing more than temporary repaints of existing Air Koryo cargo aircraft.

The camouflage enabled the planes to take part in North Korea’s high profile “Victory Day” parade as previously unseen military assets, but the number and model of the Soviet-era aircraft has led some observers to question whether the planes were in fact new acquisitions.

“I think a more far-flug but reasonable explanation is that they used