Elite school where classrooms are equipped jet fighter simulator (Photos)

A bronze statue of Kim and his son and successor Kim Jong Il - an old boy - embracing pupils overlooks the playing field, and the corridors are lined with weapons identification posters. [AFP]

Not many schools have classrooms equipped with tanks, jet fighter simulators, and grenade launchers. But North Korea's Mangyongdae Revolutionary School for boys is no ordinary establishment.

Originally set up by the North's founder Kim Il Sung to educate the orphans of those killed in the fight against Japanese colonial rule, it has evolved to become the country's top school, and one of the institutions that knits the ruling elite together.