North Korea’s Health App Offers Medicines on Demand

This article has also been posted to NKTechLab.org, a new center for investigation and analysis into how North Korea uses technology to serve and suppress its citizens.

North Korea’s Ministry of Health has launched an online drug and medical product delivery service based in a smartphone app. The app is called “건강” (Health) and also allows patients to consult medical practitioners without going to a hospital and consult a database of common medical questions and answers.

The app underscores how North Korea is adopting digital platforms, particularly on smartphones, for access to and delivery of products and services that would previously have required an in-person visit.

The service is available nationwide, according to the app, but it is unclear how widely available the services are in practice or how readily available products are for delivery. It is not uncommon for reports of medicine shortages to emerge from North Korea and in 2021, the country reported to the United Nations that availability of “essential medicines” was a challenge.

Additionally, some products require the use of foreign currency to purchase them, which might rule out some consumers, although their inclusion in the app shows how common the use of foreign currency is for some purchases in the country.

Background on the App

We analyzed version 3.0 of the app that was installed on a “Chonha” brand smartphone that was on sale in North Korea in 2024.

The app is produced by the Central Pharmaceutical Management Office’s (중앙의약품관리소) Health Electronic Pharmacy (건강전자약국). The drug management office is part of North Korea’s Ministry of Health and handles the distribution of pharmaceuticals across the country while the Health Electronic Pharmacy says its main mission is “to sell various medical products that are thoroughly guaranteed for efficacy and safety through the nationwide mobile communication network and the [national intranet].”

Opening the app, users are presented with an illustration of a van and car carrying the app’s logo and the promise that medical supplies can be delivered to “every corner of the country.” The app specifies that delivery is free.

Sections of the app’s home page call out new products, popular products and recommended products, although data from those sections were not present on the phone analyzed.

Products

The app includes a database of over 3,000 different pharmaceuticals, traditional medicines and medical goods and includes a section on medical conditions and a medical discussion forum.

Users can search the entire product database or browse by type of medicine, such as skin medicine, medicine for eye diseases, and medicine used in obstetrics and gynecology.

Each drug is accompanied by a photo of the product, details on its ingredients, a description of what it’s used for and product warnings. In the case of a domestically produced drug, the manufacturer is listed. For drugs from overseas, the country of origin is disclosed.

Within each user’s profile, there is a page that lists order status, similar to any Internet shopping app. It allows users to track orders from the placement through fulfilment to delivery.

Prices

Products in the app fall into two distinct categories: those priced in North Korean won and those priced in foreign exchange (forex) won. The latter is a virtual currency credited when users exchange foreign cash and is valued at around 100 won to the US dollar.

The user profile in the app displays a cash balance in both currencies.

Prices are color-coded to denote which of the two won is being used. Those with a red price tag are foreign exchange won and those with a blue price tag are North Korean won. In general, most domestically-produced products are in domestic won—and those from overseas in foreign exchange won—but that is not always the case.

For example, several domestic drug producers, including Rakrangrokyang Pharmaceutical Co. (락랑록양제약소), Ryonghung Pharmaceutical Factory (룡흥제약공장) and Taehung Health Food Production Plant (대흥건강식품생산사업소) appear to sell products exclusively in foreign exchange won. This could be because the drugs are derived from imported chemicals or to increase profits.

Prices in both currencies span a considerable range.

Among the cheapest products in domestic won are children’s nutritional supplements, such as a digestive enzyme powder for 1,500 won, or about 19 US cents. The cheapest product priced in foreign exchange won is 2ml of lidocaine from Vietnam, which costs 4.51 forex won, or about 5 US cents.

But some products are considerably more expensive and their inclusion in the app points to the existence of a wealthy subset of consumers.

The most expensive products priced in foreign exchange won are a series of exercise equipment rigs from China. The top-priced product, advertised as for shoulder, arm and wrist development, costs 665,280 foreign exchange won, or about 665 USD.

The most expensive product priced in domestic won is a portable capillary electron microscope from the Pyongyang Electronic Medical Device Factory. It connects to a PC via USB and costs 2.9 million won, which is about 362 USD at 8,000 won to the dollar.

Updates

There is also a button for non-direct orders, which appear to be those made without a smartphone data connection.

“In order to fully meet the increasing demand for medicines of our people, our Health Electronic Pharmacy is planning to provide medicine ordering and free delivery service for both mobile network subscribers and non-mobile network subscribers.”

“The advantage of this service is that you can conveniently and quickly receive medicine ordering and free delivery service without having to subscribe to mobile network.”

According to instructions, the app’s database of products, places and information can be downloaded in-person from one of the many information technology service centers that exist in North Korean towns and cities. It can also be downloaded from a website on the national intranet.

The database can be transferred and shared with other users via Bluetooth, according to the app.

In setting up the system this way, the health ministry has ensured the information is available to the largest possible number of people.

While most sections of the app require authentication, the catalog can be browsed without being signed in. This is crucial if it is to be of maximum benefit, as authentication would require an active data connection.

It appears that such orders are placed by telephone.

Health Electronic Pharmacy

The app appears to be a companion to a similarly named website operated by the Central Pharmaceutical Management Office’s Health Electronic Pharmacy on North Korea’s internal intranet. In May 2023, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported on the development of a website used to “disseminate and share common sense related to medicine.”

The newspaper said the site includes an online consultation section with over 200 medical workers providing advice, but the article did not mention a pharmaceutical delivery service or the companion app.