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Associated Press

Now here’s something you don’t see every day: an F-16 fighter jet buzzing through the skies of North Korea and launching – fireworks.
The plane roaring over people’s heads at the country’s first air show Sunday was actually a remote-controlled mock-up of the fabled US Air Force fighter. The scale models of the F-16 and a Chinese J-10 fighter were featured on the second day of the Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival.
The choice of flying a one-sixth scale F-16 at the show was an odd one considering the outrage North Korea regularly expresses over the presence of US troops and Air Force bases in South Korea.

The North was particularly outraged over recent flights by B-1B Lancer bombers, which are capable of dropping nuclear weapons, near the Demilitarised Zone that divides the Koreas in a display of power after the North’s fifth nuclear test, conducted September 9.
The model fighters did, however, appear to please the crowd watching the air displays at Wonsan’s newly renovated Kalma Airport.

Thousands of North Koreans and hundreds of foreign tourists and journalists invited to the event – which is intended to showcase Wonsan’s tourism appeal – were given a rare glimpse of North Korea’s own air force fighters, including a MiG-29 and SU-25 ground attack fighter, acquired from Russia.
The Wonsan airport was long used by the North’s military but was upgraded and rebuilt to handle commercial flights, though it is unclear how it would fit into national flag-carrier Air Koryo’s very limited international flight schedule.

The final day also included a demonstration of military parachuting, with the first two skydivers descending with huge North Korean and ruling party flags. Officials refused to comment on the origin of the model F-16. The air show’s first day opened with a aerobatic display by US-made Hughes MD 500 military-use helicopters, the origin of which has raised questions of whether international sanctions against North Korea were violated.



Attendees at North Korean air show impressed by F-16 fighter jet  ... the model version

A remote-controlled F-16 fighter jet lands in front of an Air Koryo commercial aeroplane. Photo: AP

North Koreans watch as military parachutists descend upon Kalma Airport on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, in Wonsan, North Korea. Thousands of Koreans and hundreds of foreign tourists and journalists invited to Wonsan, a port city, for the Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival, were given a glimpse of North Korea's own Air Force fighters, remote-controlled scale mock-up planes including an F-16 fighter jet, and demonstrations of military parachuting, with the first two skydivers descending with huge North Korean and ruling party flags. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Pyrotechnics explode as a military parachutist descends upon Kalma Airport on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, in Wonsan, North Korea. Thousands of Koreans and hundreds of foreign tourists and journalists invited to Wonsan, a port city, for the Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival, were given a glimpse of North Korea's own Air Force fighters, remote-controlled scale mock-up planes including an F-16 fighter jet, and demonstrations of military parachuting, with the first two skydivers descending with huge North Korean and ruling party flags. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

North Koreans watch as a remote-controlled F-16 fighter jet lands on the runway of Kalma Airport on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, in Wonsan, North Korea. Thousands of Koreans and hundreds of foreign tourists and journalists invited to Wonsan, a port city, for the Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival, were given a glimpse of North Korea's own Air Force fighters, remote-controlled scale mock-up planes including an F-16 fighter jet, and demonstrations of military parachuting, with the first two skydivers descending with huge North Korean and ruling party flags. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

North Korean female MiG-21 fighter pilots Rim Sol, left, and Jo Kum Hyang, right, walk past a MiG-21 jet plane, on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, in Wonsan, North Korea. Thousands of Koreans and hundreds of foreign tourists and journalists invited to Wonsan, a port city, for the Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival, were given a glimpse of North Korea's own Air Force fighters, remote-controlled scale mock-up planes including an F-16 fighter jet, and demonstrations of military parachuting, with the first two skydivers descending with huge North Korean and ruling party flags. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

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