Kim Jong Un Praises Air Force’s Role in Nuclear Deterrence at 80th Anniversary Event

KCNA

Kim Jong Un with pilots of the Korean People’s Army Air Force, 30 November 2025.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has underscored the central role of the country’s Air Force in maintaining its nuclear war deterrent, as he marked the force’s 80th anniversary alongside his young daughter, state media reported on Sunday.

Photographs published by the ruling-party newspaper Rodong Sinmun showed Kim inspecting what appeared to be unmanned aerial vehicles, mobile missile launchers, and other military equipment. The images come amid growing international concern over North Korea’s expanding drone capabilities.

A Ukrainian intelligence official told Reuters earlier that Pyongyang has begun mass-producing small, short-range First Person View (FPV) drones as well as larger, medium-range battlefield attack drones.

Kim, dressed in a long leather coat along with his daughter, attended an air show to commemorate the anniversary and toured a display of aircraft, including an airborne early-warning aircraft that North Korea unveiled earlier this year, according to state media photographs.

North Korea’s expectations for its Air Force — which “will play a role in the exercise of the nuclear war deterrent” — are “great”, the state-run KCNA news agency quoted Kim as saying.

“The Air Force should resolutely repulse and control all sorts of espionage acts and possible military provocations by the enemies,” Kim said, according to KCNA.

He added that the Air Force would be equipped with new strategic assets, though he did not provide further details.

Source: Reuters



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