Lee Ho-jeong. (Photo courtesy of the Republic of Korea Air Force)Seoul (VNA) – Lee Ho-jeong, 41, a Vietnamese-born marriage migrant, has become one of the four people chosen as this year’s nationalpilots of the Republic of Korea (RoK), according to the Republic of Korea AirForce (ROKAF).
She moved to the RoK in 2001 and acquired Korean citizenship in 2007.
Lee, a mother of two children who also works as a banking employee and aVietnamese language tutor, managed to obtain a pilot's licence for lightaircraft.
Others selected as national pilots are Kim Jong-seop, 49, KimEui-hyeon, a neurosurgeon at Severance Hospital in Seoul and Yoo Dong-hyun, a26-year-old college student who set a Guinness World Record in 2018 as theyoungest finisher of four Deserts Ultramarathon.
Every two years, ROKAF appoints four national pilots, who aregranted the opportunity to fly in an active military aircraft.
Korean nationals aged above 17 can file an application. Candidateswho progress past the in-depth interview stage must undergo an intensive flighttraining course before the final selection.
This year, the national pilots will fly in the T-50 fighter jetduring the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX), which is being held at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi province.
The experience flights guided by ROKAF pilots will take placeon October 21, during which they will fly above the mountainous Gangwon provinceto the east coast. After completing the one-hour flight, they will return to SeoulAir Base where they will be presented with commemorative red scarves, assymbolically worn by ROKAF pilots.
According to ROKAF, 2,678 people filed applications for thisyear's national pilot programme, marking the highest competition rate since itslaunch in 2007. So far, 37 people from a range of backgrounds and age groups, including students, office workers, police officers, nurses and teachers, havebeen appointed as national pilots./.
