N. Korean Air Force Invisible at Winter Exercise

Anchor: As North Korea is conducting its annual winter military drill, experts are taking note of a substantial decrease in the number of North Korean fighter jets mobilized for the exercise.
Moon Gwang-lip has more.
Report: North Korea has been staging its annual months-long winter military exercise since early last month.
While the program appears to resemble practices observed in previous years such as specialty-weapon training and shooting simulations, South Korean intelligence authorities say far less fighter jets have joined the drill.
An official in Seoul said with the exception of some transport planes, the North’s Air Force is almost invisible during the ongoing winter exercise. The official said this apparently shows that the North is having difficulty procuring fuel for military use.
An aeronautical event in the presence of leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang was held with the launch of the winter drill last month. However, the event was also assessed to be smaller in scale compared to previous years.
Senior Researcher Moon Sung-mook of the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy and other defense experts pointed to the passage of UN Security Council(UNSC)'s sanction measures.
[Sound bite: Moon Sung-mook - Senior Researcher, Korea Research Institute for National Strategy (Korean)]
“It has been almost a year since UNSC Resolution 2270 was put in place and I think the international sanctions began to take a toll on the North.”
The South Korean military is strengthening its vigilance against Pyongyang, judging that the North may attempt to wage another provocation in protest of international sanctions slapped on the regime.
Moon Gwang-lip, KBS World Radio News.
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