New model aircraft types are being indigenously developed in North Korea, state media outlet DPRK Today said on Thursday, another indicator of the country’s growing interest in the leisure aviation sector under Kim Jong Un.

Larger and more technologically sophisticated model aircraft will be built in 2017 by specialized North Korean workers for the nation’s ‘aviation athletes,’ the report said, citing interviews with the staff of a Pyongyang model plane flying club.

“The model airliner with new folding wings has the advantage that it can lower its air resistance when flying up to the sky and can fly high,” one supervisor said about an emerging model-type in