North Korea has launched a smartphone app called “Health 3.0” that allows users to order and receive home delivery of medication and health products, Daily NK has learned.
The app, which Daily NK recently obtained, advertises “free delivery services for medical items” to both mobile subscribers and non-subscribers, promising to “smoothly satisfy the people’s demands for pharmaceuticals.”
Notably, the app functions even without network connectivity. This appears to be an evolution of a system implemented during the 2022 COVID-19 pandemic, when residents could request medications by phone and receive home deliveries from soldiers.
“Users can download pharmaceutical lists from their preferred data service unit,” the app explains. “Updated files can be exchanged via Bluetooth.” While North Korean smartphones typically restrict file sharing due to security measures, these pharmaceutical lists seem to be exempt from such limitations.
The app incentivizes regular use by offering “special preferential services” tied to holidays and promising additional benefits based on cumulative purchase amounts.
The ordering process is straightforward: users add items to a cart, confirm order details, and specify delivery time, location, and payment method. Orders progress through application, receipt, delivery, and completion stages, with users able to track their delivery person’s information. The presence of an optional prescription field suggests some medications may be available without a prescription.
The app’s inventory spans medications, medical supplies and devices, health foods, children’s products, sanitation supplies, medicinal herbs for traditional Korean medicine, and health-related industrial goods.
Analysis of the app’s database reveals 243 different medications available, complete with pricing, usage instructions, precautions, efficacy information, and side effects. The selection ranges from common cold medicines and vitamins to specialized treatments for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.
Of the medicines listed, 141 are manufactured in India, 68 in Vietnam, 14 in Poland, and seven in Taiwan. Only eight are produced in North Korea.
January 31, 2025 at 01:15PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)