North Korea introduced its first pair of female pilots of supersonic fighters during a flight drill attended by leader Kim Jong-un, state media reported Monday.

Jo Kum-hyang and Rim Sol stepped into the limelight in November after respectively carrying out a solo take-off and landing exercise with the subsonic MiG-15 chasers, prompting the young ruler to laud them as “phoenixes,” the media said.

Kim called for the cultivation of female aviators during a pilot rally in Pyongyang in April 2014, a rare directive in the extremely male-centered society. He had since instructed his aides to teach Jo and Rim the skills to fly hypersonic jets.

Observing their operation of the MiG-21, a Russian fighter with a speed of around Mach 2.0, Kim expressed delight, calling them “flowers of the sky.”

<YONHAP PHOTO-1284> 북한 첫 여성 초음속전투기 조종사 축하하는 김정은 (서울=연합뉴스) 북한에서 처음으로 여성 초음속전투기 비행사가 탄생했다고 노동신문이 22일 보도했다. 그 주인공인 림설(하단 오른쪽 사진)과 조금향(하단 왼쪽사진)이 단독비행 시범 훈련직후 김정은 국방위원회 제1위원장으로부터 직접 축하를 받고 기념사진을 찍고 있다. 조금향과 림설은 지난해 11월 김 제1위원장이 첫 여성 전투기 조종사의 훈련을 참관했을 때 '불사조'라는 치하를 받은 바 있다. 2015.6.22 nkphoto@yna.co.kr/2015-06-22 09:56:26/ <저작권자 ⓒ 1980-2015 ㈜연합뉴스. 무단 전재 재배포 금지.> North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is seen congratulating and posing for photos with the regime’s first female pilots of supersonic jets during flight training. Yonhap
북한 첫 여성 초음속전투기 조종사 축하하는 김정은 (서울=연합뉴스) 북한에서 처음으로 여성 초음속전투기 비행사가 탄생했다고 노동신문이 22일 보도했다. 그 주인공인 림설(하단 오른쪽 사진)과 조금향(하단 왼쪽사진)이 단독비행 시범 훈련직후 김정은 국방위원회 제1위원장으로부터 직접 축하를 받고 기념사진을 찍고 있다. 조금향과 림설은 지난해 11월 김 제1위원장이 첫 여성 전투기 조종사의 훈련을 참관했을 때 '불사조'라는 치하를 받은 바 있다. 2015.6.22 nkphoto@yna.co.kr/2015-06-22 09:56:26/ <저작권자 ⓒ 1980-2015 ㈜연합뉴스. 무단 전재 재배포 금지.> North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is seen congratulating and posing for photos with the regime’s first female pilots of supersonic jets during flight training. Yonhap

“They conducted their first solo flight (of the supersonic jet) readily and neatly despite unexpected circumstances,” the official Korea Central News Agency said, without elaborating.

“(Kim) referred to them as a mirror and example that practically showed how all the soldiers follow through on the party’s training guidelines.”

The communist country’s female air wing was reportedly launched in 1993, but most of its members have been flying old, propeller-powered aircraft.

Among the executives who accompanied the leader were Hwang Pyong-so, director of the Korean People’s Army’s general political bureau, and O Kum-chol, vice chief of the KPA general staff, the agency noted.

By Shin Hyon-hee ()