North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has prohibited Chinese-made medicines at major hospitals in the country's capital after the death of a "trusted" official. He also ordered to stop testing COVID-19 vaccines from China and instead urged health officials to produce their own.
The prohibition was prompted when a high-profile government official who was part of North Korea's economic bureaucracy died previously this May upon receiving a shot of cocarboxylase, a Chinese-produced medicine.
Kim Jong Un Bans China-made Drugs in Pyongyang Hospitals
The senior bureaucrat abruptly passed away after receiving an injection of cocarboxylase imported from China. He had reportedly been experiencing heart-related illnesses alongside high blood pressure. He was being treated at the Pyongyang Medical College Hospital.
Cocarboxylase is regularly used to help patients experiencing fatigue. However, in North Korea, it serves as a "cure-all" to treat high blood pressure, lung disease, and even severe infections. The North Korean leader was reportedly angry upon hearing of his trusted official's death, reported Newshere.
The unidentified official had worked in North Korea's economic sector since the country was under the tenure of Kim's father, Kim Jong Il. It was unclear if the official's death was due to a cocarboxylase injection.
Kim Jong Un Also Ordered to End Testing of Chinese-made COVID-19 Vaccines
Kim reportedly expressed sadness over the loss of such a "talented official." He immediately released an order for all China's medicines to be removed from Pyongyang hospitals, reported Express.
The ban involved an order that all Chinese-made novel coronavirus vaccines must be removed from the ongoing analysis. Instead, according to Kim, research activities should now target producing North Korea's own coronavirus vaccine.
Simultaneously, Kim ordered scientists to halt their test trials of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines. They should reportedly concentrate on producing a domestic vaccine in turn.
This is not the first time that Kim has acted arbitrarily to impose prohibitions. He recently implemented new laws outlawing "non-socialist" hairstyles, including the mullet.
Dyed and spikey hair was also ruled out in the strange crackdown. The provincial Youth League issued an order on adequate hairstyles.
The document indicated mullets and other unauthorized hairstyles are part of the "yellow wind of capitalism" and "anti-socialist behavior." Western-style clothing, including sloganed T-shirts, skinny or ripped jeans, and nose and lip piercings, have also been prohibited.
North Korea has already been experiencing a shortage of food and medicine imports. It has rigidly closed its borders in 2020 with the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Beijing has historically been the country's closest foreign partner, its trade with China diminished by an estimated 80 percent in 2020 after the nation sealed its borders.
According to Jiro Ishimaru, who leads the Osaka, Japan-based Asia Press website and oversees a network of North Korean journalists, "The North Korean economy is on the brink of a huge recession. A lot of people are suffering. I have spoken to contacts who say there are more people begging for food and money at markets, and a rise in the number of homeless people. There is also a desperate need for antibiotics and other medicines," reported Newsweek.
