"Make 2025 the inaugural year of the healthcare revolution." This was Kim Jong-un's declaration in February 2025. It was an order to construct modern medical and healthcare facilities not only in Pyongyang but also in the provinces. The construction plans that came to light included the large Pyongyang General Hospital, Kusong City Hospital, and Kangdong County Hospital in Pyongyang, and it's been reported that medical facility renewal projects have been proceeding one after another in other provinces as well. What's the reality of this "healthcare revolution"? We asked a reporting partner in North Hamgyong Province to investigate the situation on the ground. (ISHIMARU Jiro / KANG Ji-won)
◆Provincial hospitals lack proper surgical scalpels
Reporting partner A lives in Musan County, North Hamgyong Province—a border city with China that's home to North Korea's largest iron ore mine. The population is estimated at around 100,000.
—— Is the renewal of medical facilities also proceeding in Musan County?
Since last fall, there's been a directive from the central government to modernize the medical and healthcare sector, and orders came down to rebuild Musan County Hospital in a modern fashion. They renovated the existing building and reconstructed the inpatient rooms, examination rooms, testing rooms, and so on. The problem is that proper medical equipment isn't coming in. When I actually went into the hospital, there wasn't a single proper bed.
—— In Pyongyang, they're widely publicizing the completion of a magnificent general hospital.
I hear that places like Pyongyang and Samjiyon have received a lot of good Chinese medical equipment imported through Sinuiju and Nampo. But the provinces have no money. All that came to Musan County Hospital was a used Chinese X-ray machine.
Even that secondhand X-ray machine broke down after just one month because they were using unstable voltage instead of the rated voltage, so I heard it's actually unusable.
—— Are there other hospitals in Musan?
There's also a mine hospital at the Musan Mine, but the medical facilities are even worse there—they don't even have proper surgical scalpels. Besides that, there are small clinics in each district.
