UPDATE 0950 SEOUL: Tuesday edition of state-run Rodong Sinmun published an article about  the first Wonsan Air Festival.

North Korea hosted what’s been described as its first ever airshow on Saturday and Sunday, with the country’s air forces seen operating U.S. made MD-500 helicopters at Kalma International Airport in Wonsan, North Korea.

The helicopters seen during the North Korean show were most likely units smuggled into North Korea in the past, a Seoul-based expert explained.

“Back in the 80s, the North bribed Americans who helped to smuggle85 units of MD-500s into the country until 1985,” Kim Min-seok, senior researcher