North Korean 'military' planes reportedly civilian aircraft repainted with camo

Call it a makeover, military style.

Two cargo jets touted as a part of the Korean People’s Air Force during North Korea’s “Victory Day” parade in July were actually civilian aircraft with fresh coats of camouflage paint, claims NK News, which describes itself as a Washington-based North Korea news site.

The website says pictures posted on Russianplanes.net, which documents aircraft flying into Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, purportedly show white Air Koryo Ilyushin-76 cargo planes with portions of the camo-paint job still visible.

Air Koryo is North Korea’s state-run airline.

A close-up examination of the tail sections on the planes appear to show the exact same beige and green pattern of the “military” aircraft that were photographed flying over Kim Il Sung square, NK News reports.

“I think a more far-flung but reasonable explanation is that they used water-based [removable] paint, something that is common to do in the film industry,” a source told the website.

North Korea has previously used the IL-76 planes to transfer weapons, but it is not clear why they were photographed in Moscow, since the Air Koryo fleet does not undergo maintenance or is known to haul cargo to Russia, according to NK News.

Click for more from NK News.