Local hospitals across North Korea are actively manufacturing their own medicines following the regime’s “self-reliance” directive.
According to a Daily NK source in North Pyongan province recently, county hospitals in areas including Yomju and Taechon have begun prescribing self-produced traditional medicines to patients this year. These include “Youngsinhwan” made from wild ginseng, “Danggangssughwan,” remedies for arthritis made from aralia root, and antibiotics derived from honeysuckle.
These measures aim to provide at least some medication to patients amid shortages of essential drugs like antibiotics and painkillers.
The source said the city of Gusong in North Pyongan province, designated as a model hospital construction site this year, is actively expanding its variety of self-produced medicines.
“There are no naive people here who go to hospitals expecting treatment,” the source said. “Many visit hospitals to get medical certificates to avoid work. Even those who are genuinely sick have come to accept receiving only prescriptions without actual medicine.”
In February, leader Kim Jong Un attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a hospital and service complex in Gangdong county as part of his “Regional Development 20×10 Policy.” He pointed out that “health, hygiene, and science are areas where urban-rural disparities appear most severely” and criticized that “cities and counties lack properly equipped facilities to provide complete medical services to people, and don’t even have decent convenience service facilities.”
Kim declared that “2025 should be recorded in history as the first year of the health revolution” and outlined plans to build hospitals in 20 cities and counties annually, beginning with model constructions in Gangdong county, Ryonggang county, and the city of Gusong this year.
With the supreme leader directly addressing poor medical conditions in local areas, medical workers who previously made excuses about “receiving nothing from the central government” now feel urgent pressure to show results, the source said.
“Hospitals need to give patients self-made medicines, regardless of effectiveness, to show they’re doing something,” the source said. “Ultimately, this self-production of medicines is just a ‘show project’ for medical workers to keep their positions.”
Youngsinhwan is “everywhere”
County hospitals throughout the province are engaging in self-reliance through the production of Korean traditional medicines, with Youngsinhwan being the most commonly manufactured.
“Youngsinhwan is everywhere these days, but each hospital adds different ingredients in different amounts, so the taste and hardness vary,” the source explained. “Since the effectiveness hasn’t been verified, people don’t make judgements about whether it works but rather comment on which hospital’s version tastes sweeter or which one is just bitter.”
The source added, “The reality that people still need to find essential antibiotics and painkillers on their own hasn’t changed, yet people are surprised to receive anything at all from hospitals.”
While hospitals’ focus on traditional medicine production is closer to a “show project” to demonstrate loyalty to party directives than to improving public health, many p eople are surprised to receive any prescriptions from hospitals at all, the source said.
