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North Korea pushes traditional medicine to fight COVID-19

FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, delivers a speech during the ground-breaking ceremony of a general hospital in Pyongyang, North Korea March 17, 2020. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File) FILE - In this undated photo provided on Sept. 10, 2020, by the North Korean government, a health worker checks the temperature of people to protect against the coronavirus in Pyongyang, North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File) Kim Jieun, a defector who is a traditional doctor in South Korea, sits for a photo after an interview in Seoul, South Korea on July 8, 2022. Kim said that South Koreans generally use traditional medicine to maintain or improve their health, but North Koreans use it to treat diverse diseases. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) FILE - Employees of Junggu Koryo Medicine Pharmaceutical Factory produce Koryo medicines in Pyongyang, on June 7, 2022. North Korea has been driving to increase the production of both modern and traditional (Koryo) medicine to fight the COVID-19 illness. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho, File) FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits a pharmacy in Pyongyang, North Korea May 15, 2022. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File) Kim Jieun, a defector who is a traditional doctor in South Korea, answers a reporter's question during an interview in Seoul, South Korea on July 8, 2022. Kim said that South Koreans generally use traditional medicine to maintain or improve their health, but North Koreans use it to treat diverse diseases. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) Lee Gwang-jin, who studied Koryo medicine before he fled North Korea in 2018, answers a reporter's question during an interview in Paju, South Korea on July 14, 2022. As a medical student in North Korea, Lee said he treated his fevers and other minor ailments with traditional herbal medicine. But bad illness could mean trouble because hospitals in his rural hometown lacked the ambulances, beds, even the electricity at times needed to treat critical or emergency patients. So Lee was skeptical when he heard recent North Korean state media reports that claimed such so-called Koryo traditional medicine is playing a key role in the nation's fight against COVID-19. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) FILE - A pharmacist at the Kaeson Clinic in the Moranbong District of Pyongyang, North Korea gathers traditional "Koryo" medicine for a patient waiting at the window on Feb. 21, 2013. North Korea has recently reported fewer than 200 daily fever cases amid its first domestic COVID-19 outbreak and says its traditional "Koryo" herbal medicines are playing a key role in curing patients. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File) FILE - A pharmacist waits for customers at the Man Nyon Pharmacy, the nation's largest dispensary of traditional "Koryo" medicine, in Pyongyang, North Korea on Feb. 21, 2013. North Korea has recently reported fewer than 200 daily fever cases amid its first domestic COVID-19 outbreak and says its traditional "Koryo" herbal medicines are playing a key role in curing patients. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File) FILE - Students and youth attend a dancing party in celebration of the 110th birth anniversary of its late founder Kim Il Sung at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea on April 15, 2022. North Korea has recently reported fewer than 200 daily fever cases amid its first domestic COVID-19 outbreak and says its traditional "Koryo" herbal medicines are playing a key role in curing patients. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin, File) FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, station staff disinfect the floor of Pyongyang station to curb the spread of coronavirus infection, in Pyongyang, North Korea on May 17, 2022. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)