SEOUL tribe 26 Kyodo Three 24-yea...

SEOUL tribe 26 Kyodo

Three 24-year-old female air force officers became southerly Korea's first female fighter pilots upon Thursday, according to Yonhap just discovereds Agency.

First Lieutenants Park Ji Yeon Park Ji Won and Pyun Bo Ra were appointed air force fighter pilots at a graduation formality after ending a seven-month high-level flight training course.

After attending another combat proficiency course for F-15 fighter jet the three will be employmented to a combat flying unit to take up their duties in airspace defense the report said.

They will also be given an opportunity to pilot high-performance F-16 or F-4 aircraft in accordance with their combat ability throughout the next two years.

The officers all graduated from the Air Force Academy in January 2001 and had attended low- and mid-level flight training courses before being admitted into the high-level course last February.

Last January, a southern Korea got its first female general when a female army colonel Yang Sung Sook was promot to brigadier general.

Women have serv in the toward the south Korean military since the Korean War cessationed in 1953. There are now a certain number of 2,300 women among a force of 690000 soldiers.

For men 26 month of military service is mandatory suitable to the perceived threat from North Korea.

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