Kim Jong Un shrugs off need for ‘cutting-edge jets’ during air force celebration | NK News
NK News Logo
October 05, 2026Oct 05, 2026

Weapon Directory

News

Kim Jong Un shrugs off need for ‘cutting-edge jets’ during air force celebration

North Korean leader meets and promotes pilots who flew in ‘unprecedented’ drills involving ‘500 planes’ last month

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrated the Aviation Day holiday this week by meeting pilots and promoting top air force personnel for their exploits during “unprecedented” large-scale flying drills last month, state media reported Thursday. 

Kim took a group photo with 705 pilots who specifically took part in drills on Nov. 4 that involved “500 fighters of different kinds,” according to the Rodong Sinmun, and commended the “ideological and spiritual superiority of the Air Force that can defeat any formidable enemy at one stroke.”

Kim reportedly said the “air myth of invincibility is created not by any cutting-edge