North Korea expands its air force

North Korea has increased the number of its air force troops by 10,000, while reducing that of army soldiers by the same amount, a South Korean government data showed Thursday.

   The total number of the North's armed forces stood at 1.19 million as of the end of 2013, according to the defense ministry's update of its assessment of the communist nation's military power.

   "There seems to be no change in the general size of the North Korean military. But it transferred some aviation units in the army to the air force," a ministry official said.

   The North's military also increased the number of its aircraft by 230 to 1,580 and the navy has 810 ships, mostly small and aged ones, the ministry said in the report.

   The North has more than 1,000 ballistic missiles, it added. (Yonhap)