North korea: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to provide his country's air force with new strategic military assets. Speaking at a ceremony marking the 80th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army Air Force, Kim Jong Un said that "the Air Force will be given new strategic military assets and entrusted with a new important duty," without specifying what those strategic assets would be.

According to Qatar News Agency, Kim Jong Un added that "expectations for the Air Force, which will play a role in the exercise of the nuclear war deterrent, is very great, and that the Air Force should resolutely repulse and control all sorts of espionage acts and possible military provocations of the enemies to encroach upon the sovereign airspace."

While North Korea is constantly seeking to modernize its conventional military forces, it has also been focusing on strengthening its air force. It unveiled its first live-fire air-to-air combat exercise involving military aircraft last May and its new airborne early warning and control system in March.