Last year there were ‘cures’ for Ebola and Aids. Now, state media has claimed that a special ginseng liquor can be drunk without fear. NK News reports 
 
 A North Korean ginseng liquor can be drunk without fear of hangover, according to an article in the DPRK’s Pyongyang Times. 
 
 The article claims the Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory has been improving the drink for years, replacing sugar with scorched, glutinous rice which apparently helps eliminate both bitterness – and hangovers. 
 
 Koryo Liquor is appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover 
 
 “Koryo Liquor, which is made of six-year-old Kaesong Koryo insam [ginseng], known as being highest in medicinal effect, and the scorched rice, is highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover,” the piece reads. 
 
 In August, the Korean Central News Agency published an article claiming North Korea’s Koryo Songgyungwan University was working on improving the quality of Kaesong Koryo Insam Liquor. 
 
 An article from 1999 also claimed the insam liquor is “the elixir of life”. 
 
 Andray Abrahamian, director of research from Choson Exchange who regularly visits the DPRK, said he hadn’t tried the brand in question, but wasn’t keen on drinking the liquor as a “tasty treat”. 
 
 “There are some high quality liquors made in North Korea, though in my experience there is no such thing as hangover-free booze anywhere in the world,” he said. 
 
 Should the claims about hangovers prove accurate, the drink would no doubt also prove popular in the South. According to a 2012 World Health Organisation report, South Koreans drink 12.1 litres of alcohol a year, more than any other country in Asia. 
 
 But curing hangovers is one of the milder curative properties North Korean media has attributed to ginseng. 
 
 Last year DPRK media claimed medical products containing extracts from the plant could cure Mers, Sars and even Aids. 
 
 A version of this article first appeared on NK News – North Korean news 

 Scientists claim a ginseng-based liquor causes no hangovers, according to the state-controlled Pyongyang Times. 
 
 Good news for party-goers, North Korean scientists claim to have made a liquor that won't cause hangovers. 
 
 The ginseng-based liquor, which is between 30 and 40 percent proof, uses burnt, boiled rice in the brewing process, according to an article in the state-controlled Pyongyang Times. 
 
 "Koryo Liquor, which is made of six-year-old Kaesong Koryo insam (ginseng), known as being highest in medicinal effect, and the scorched rice, is highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover," the article states. 

 North Korea claimed to have developed a cure for MERS and other viral infections, the Korean Central News Agency reported Friday. 
 
 Choi Chang Sik, the chief researcher at the Public Health Administration Lab in the North’s Ministry of Public Health told state media that North Korea’s Kumdang-2 injection can cure many immunity-related disease such as MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus). 
 
 He explained that the MERS virus infects those who have weaker immune function than others. Thus, according to him, the best way to prevent infection from MERS would be to increase the level of immunity in one’s body. 
 
 The article also emphasized that “diseases such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), Ebola and MERS are all related to the body’s immune system. One can easily beat such diseases if one takes the DPRK-produced Kumdang-2 injection.” 
 
 Jon Sung Hun, CEO of Chosun Bukang Medical Company, said that Kumdang-2 was developed through fertilizing Gaesong’s ginseng fields with rare earth elements. Later, the rare earth-fed ginseng is harvested and the essence extracted, producing the substance for injection. 
 
 The article even mentions that many DPRK and foreign media outlets have already reported the contribution of the Kumdang-2 injection towards SARS, Avian Influenza, MERS and even AIDS. NK News has not found any solid proof beyond that article that Kumdang-2 is a valid cure for the deadly diseases KCNA claims it treats. 
 
 Bang Jun-seok, a clinical pharmacy professor at Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, told NK News that the North’s claims are likely dubious and that false claims of cures are not uncommon. 
 
 “If their claims are true,” said Bang, “the World Health Organization and the rest of the world’s most influential pharmaceutical companies should be calling North Korea right now.” He pointed out that it is daily routine for pharmacists to struggle with unknown claims of inventions of such cures and treatments. 
 
 “When I was working in the lab, I got at least 30 phone calls per month claiming that someone had invented a panacea for such and such disease.” He continued, “it would be waste of time for WHO to even consider sending an email to the DPRK requesting certified data on Kumdang-2, which they don’t have.” Bang emphasized that it is crucial to have valid data or proof to be recognized by the world’s health authorities. 
 
 At the end of the KCNA’s article, the North also claimed that Kumdang-2 was widely used in the United States to prevent and cure a virulent strain of flu which took hundreds of American lives. 
 
 “There are two reasons why people lie about effectiveness of pharmaceuticals,” said Bang. “It is either that they are trying to sell it to whomever they can or to manipulate stock prices.” 
 
 Featured image: KCNA 

 A North Korean insam (ginseng) liquor can be drunk without fear of hangover, according to an article from the DPRK’s Pyongyang Times. 
 
 The article, oddly entitled, “Liquor wins quality medal for preserving national smack” claims the Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory has been improving the drink for years. The research involved replacing sugar with scorched, glutinous rice which helped eliminate both bitterness, and hangovers. 
 
 “Koryo Liquor, which is made of six-year-old Kaesong Koryo insam, known as being highest in medicinal effect, and the scorched rice, is highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover,” the article reads. 
 
 Earlier articles on ginseng liquors from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) indicate the work on improving the drinks is a multi-pronged effort. 
 
 On August 19 the KCNA published an article claiming North Korea’s Koryo Songgyungwan University was working on improving the quality of Kaesong Koryo Insam Liquor. A brief article from 1999 also called it “the elixir of life.” 
 
 “I haven’t tried that brand I think, though I have had some other Insam liquors. They’re OK – I associate ginseng with its medicinal properties, though, so am not that keen on it as a tasty treat,” Andray Abrahamian from Chosong Exchange told NK News. 
 
 “There are some high quality liquors made in North Korea, though in my experience there is no such thing as hangover-free booze anywhere in the world,” he added. 
 
 Ginseng is commonly used in both Koreas on account of its medicinal properties, and the Kaesong area in the DPRK is famous for the product. 
 
 Should the claims about hangover-free consumption prove accurate, the drink would likely also prove popular south of the 38th parallel, where drinks purporting to cure hangovers be found in any convenience store. According to a 2012 World Health Organization report, South Koreans drink 12.1 liters of alcohol a year, more than any other country in Asia. 
 
 Notably, the curing of hangovers is one of the milder curative properties North Korean media has attributed to ginseng. 
 
 Last year DPRK media claimed medical products containing extracts from the plant could cure MERS, SARS and even AIDS.
– While some North Koreans have kept busy exchanging propaganda packages with South Korea and supposedly making H-bombs, other good citizens have reportedly invented the thing the world really needs: a ginseng-derived booze that doesn't cause hangovers. Citing an article in the Pyongyang Times, CNBC notes that the brewing process uses burned, boiled rice to concoct the 30- to 40-proof product, now being referenced as a "national scientific and technological hit," per CNN. "Koryo Liquor, which is made of six-year-old Kaesong Koryo insam [ginseng], known as being highest in medicinal effect, and the scorched rice, is highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover," the Times article on the new product reads, via the Guardian. The tincture is also said to "[exude] national flavor," the BBC reports. The article—which claims the curious title of "Liquor Wins Quality Medal for Preserving National Smack," per NK News—also says that the brewing process cuts down on the ginseng drink's bitterness. CNBC notes that the "potentially miraculous" elixir was developed at the Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory. Of course, imbibers may have to take this news with a grain of tequila salt: As the Guardian notes, the same state media claimed last summer that North Korea had invented a ginseng-based injection that could cure SARS, MERS, Ebola, and AIDS. (North Korea tried to settle its Czech debt with ginseng.)