{"id":16735,"date":"2026-05-14T12:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/16735\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:35:09","slug":"north-korea-mobilizes-medical-students-for-herb-drives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/16735\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea mobilizes medical students for herb drives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Medicinal<\/a>Medicinal plants on offer at a health food store in Pyongyang. Image: Daily NK<\/p>\n

North Korea has mobilized medical<\/a> students<\/a> at universities across North Pyongan province to collect medicinal herbs<\/a>, drafting them into a state-driven push to expand production of koryo medicine<\/a> (traditional Korean herbal medicine) amid chronic shortages<\/a> of modern pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n

A Daily NK source in North Pyongan province said Wednesday that students at Sinuiju<\/a> Medical University<\/a> and other health-related institutions in the province have been sent out to gather herbs since late April, with the designated \u201cherb collection<\/a> period\u201d running through mid-May.<\/p>\n

Medical universities and affiliated institutions maintain their own herb gardens and conduct collection drives every spring and autumn. According to the source, schools<\/a> are framing the mobilization<\/a> as \u201cfield practice\u201d while cutting regular classes to send students out in large numbers to mountains and fields<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The mobilization follows a clear division of labor<\/a> by year of study<\/a>. Lower-year students are dispatched to forage for herbs including atractylodes, poria mushroom, achyranthes, plantain, aralia root, and mugwort. Upper-year students are tasked with tending herb plots and sorting and processing the collected material to meet required standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedical students aren\u2019t just studying anymore,\u201d the source said. \u201cThey\u2019re out there digging up herbs and drying them. Every spring and autumn, the same mobilization cycle starts up, and students have started calling it<\/a> \u2018herb vacation.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Students put to work making traditional medicine<\/p>\n

Once collected, the herbs are sent to production workshops that institutions operate nominally for educational purposes but which are used in practice to manufacture actual koryo medicine products. The workshops produce decoctions, pill formulations, and herbal syrups using plants such as mugwort and mountain ash, while also preparing medicinal liquors by steeping aralia root and tree barks in alcohol.<\/p>\n

The source noted that educational institutions are now competing to develop novel formulations through these production activities, in line with broader state-promoted drives for institutional \u201cinnovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Korean authorities\u2019 decision to rope in educational institutions reflects a longstanding effort to offset chronic drug shortages with domestically sourced natural remedies. It also signals the regime\u2019s push to reduce dependence on externally supplied pharmaceuticals and establish what state media<\/a> describes as a \u201cself-reliant production system\u201d in the public health<\/a> sector.<\/p>\n

Students, however, are not happy about it. Many have voiced frustration at spending more time foraging than receiving proper medical training.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s open criticism<\/a> among students that they spend more time hunting herbs than learning or practicing modern medical techniques,\u201d the source said. \u201cBut the authorities keep insisting that koryo medicine production is a critical public health<\/a> undertaking tied directly to improving people\u2019s wellbeing, so students have no choice but to go along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read in Kore19<\/a><\/p>\n

Reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n

\n Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information<\/a> through secure channels. Unlike reporting based on state media, satellite<\/a> imagery, or defector<\/a> accounts from years past, our journalism comes directly from people currently living under the regime. We verify reports through multiple independent sources and cross-reference details before publication.\n <\/p>\n

\n Our sources remain anonymous because contact with foreign media is treated as a capital offense in North Korea \u2014 discovery means imprisonment or execution. This network-based approach allows Daily NK to report<\/a> on developments other outlets cannot access: market<\/a> trends, policy implementation, public sentiment, and daily realities that never appear in official narratives.\n <\/p>\n

\n Maintaining these secure communication channels and protecting source identities requires specialized protocols and constant vigilance. Daily NK serves as a bridge<\/a> between North Koreans and the outside world, documenting what\u2019s happening inside one of the world\u2019s most closed societies.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Medicinal plants on offer at a health food store in Pyongyang. Image: Daily NK North Korea has mobilized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12048,31,8044,9393,34,9392,7140,9213,4918],"class_list":{"0":"post-16735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-north-korea","8":"tag-education","9":"tag-korea","10":"tag-medicine","11":"tag-mobilization","12":"tag-north-korea","13":"tag-north-pyongan-province","14":"tag-public-health","15":"tag-sinuiju","16":"tag-students"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}