A model pharmacy operating in Sinuiju since October charges 50% more than markets for aspirin and prefers foreign currency for health supplements, leading locals to suspect the facility serves propaganda purposes rather than improving public health.
A source in North Pyongan province told Daily NK recently that the model pharmacy in the Bonbu neighborhood has been operating since Oct. 10, 2024 (a date celebrated in North Korea as Party Foundation Day). The pharmacy is administered by the provincial public health bureau while receiving political oversight from the provincial party committee.
Most of the medicine at model pharmacies is reportedly supplied in quantities planned by the cabinet Ministry of Health.
Imported medicine (10% of inventory) is distributed from a medical warehouse in the Seopo district of Pyongyang on orders from the ministry. Locally produced medicine (50% of inventory) is supplied by drug factories around the country, once again under ministry orders. Finally, there is traditional medicine (known as Koryo medicine, 40% of inventory), which is produced with herbs procured from the herb management office.
The inside of the Sinuiju model pharmacy contains shelves of medication, bandages and thermometers; a prescription drop-off counter; an area for compounding medications; and a health food section.
In short, the building initially looks like a modern pharmacy, and that is exactly how it’s promoted. “These modern pharmacies were established to prioritize public lives and health under the care of leader Kim Jong Un,” the regime said. But reality is a far cry from such slogans, the source said.
Chronic shortages as pharmacies wait for ministry shipments
The constant complaint heard on the ground is that the model pharmacies don’t have the medications people actually want.
The pharmacies have few ways to refill their stock on their own, so products are apt to run out while staff wait for the next shipment from the ministry. As a result, the pharmacies are chronically short on people’s preferred medications.
“The pharmacy looks flashy on the outside, but it offers few of the medications we would want to buy. This ‘model’ pharmacy is hardly a model of practical usefulness in people’s lives,” the source said.
Another issue at the model pharmacies is prices.
For example, aspirin at the pharmacy is reportedly 50% more expensive than at the market.
“Some customers trust the medication at pharmacies since it was produced by the government. But the problem is the price of health food. Ginseng drinks and blood pressure and circulation supplements are so expensive that ordinary people wouldn’t dream of buying them,” the source said.
Pharmacies are supposed to accept the local currency for their medication. But when it comes to health food, managers reportedly prefer to accept foreign currency. That undermines the very purpose for which the regime established the pharmacies in the first place.
Since the pharmacies charge so much for medication and mainly deal in foreign currency, some expect that they will mainly cater to privileged classes and individuals, such as party officials and the relatives of fallen soldiers.
So far, there haven’t been any reports of corruption at the model pharmacies, which haven’t been in operation for very long. But some think that issues such as price inflation and private sales of filched medicine could arise in the future.
Others expect that the model pharmacies may serve a similar purpose as the state-run grain shops, which were established to bring food distribution under state control. Once the state plans all medicine distribution and sets all prices, the current model of private sales of medicine at the market may be phased out.
“Just as state-run grain shops have been used to reassert government control of the food supply, there are clear signs that the government is trying to control medications and medical devices. So rather than being designed to improve public health, (the model pharmacies) appear designed to bring the medication distribution system—which is currently distributed through the markets—back under government control,” the source said.
In February, Daily NK quoted a source in North Hamgyong province as saying that a model pharmacy in the Sunam district of Chongjin had infuriated locals by pushing health supplements instead of selling the medications people needed.
December 22, 2025 at 03:04AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)