Vietnamese immigrant chosen as one of RoK Air Force’s national pilots

Lee Ho-jeong. (Photo courtesy of the Republic of Korea Air Force)

Seoul – Lee Ho-jeong, 41, a Vietnamese-born marriage migrant, has become one of the four people chosen as this year’s national pilots of the Republic of Korea (RoK), according to the Republic of Korea Air Force (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 a Vietnamese language tutor, managed to obtain a pilot's licence for light aircraft.

Others selected as national pilots are Kim Jong-seop, 49, Kim Eui-hyeon, a neurosurgeon at Severance Hospital in Seoul and Yoo Dong-hyun, a 26-year-old college student who set a Guinness World Record in 2018 as the youngest finisher of four Deserts Ultramarathon.

Every two years, ROKAF appoints four national pilots, who are granted the opportunity to fly in an active military aircraft.

Korean nationals aged above 17 can file an application. Candidates who progress past the in-depth interview stage must undergo an intensive flight training course before the final selection.

This year, the national pilots will fly in the T-50 fighter jet during 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 place on October 21, during which they will fly above the mountainous Gangwon province to the east coast. After completing the one-hour flight, they will return to Seoul Air Base where they will be presented with commemorative red scarves, as symbolically worn by ROKAF pilots.

According to ROKAF, 2,678 people filed applications for this year's national pilot programme, marking the highest competition rate since its launch in 2007. So far, 37 people from a range of backgrounds and age groups, including students, office workers, police officers, nurses and teachers, have been appointed as national pilots.