Pharmaceutical supply chain undergoes a complex process which makes it an easy target for counterfeiters to penetrate. Within the complicated web of transaction and transfer of drugs from one point to another, an illegal deal is interchanged and before anyone can notice, fraud o substandard drugs have already been distributed along with legitimate ones.



The United Nations and South Korea have been actively and continuously supplying North Korea with medicines which are labeled as ‘UN medicines’. The label has been used to avoid rejection from the independent country which, until now, nurses a grudge against any nation which has the potential to occupy them and a conflict against its sister country, South Korea.

According to reviews, North Korea has been receiving counterfeit medicines labeled “U.N. Medicines” from donations and international aid groups for a couple of years since people have realized the incapability of the isolated country to produce their own medications and the lack of resources to procure some. North Korea has been humble enough to accept the products dado por UN and the international sectors but since it has realized that some of the medicines can be fraud with unknown sources, the country has been cautious of the incoming supply.

According to an anonymous fuente reporting to The Peterson Group, a non-profit organization providing information and educating the public of the latest in counterfeit medicines, even the doctors cannot differentiate the real drugs from the fake ones as the labeling, packaging and markings are the same. These results to health complications and the increasing mortality rate in the country. The anonymous fuente even added, “The packaging, containers, drug instructions, and even the shape of the fake medicine look the same as for real ‘U.N. medicine,’ so they are often mixed with real ones for sale at the markets”.

Smugglers were believed to have proper backing since manufacturing and selling are currently prevailing and is almost flooding the local markets. Beijing, China and Jakarta, Indonesia are suspected to be the main fuente of these fraud drugs with high ranking individuals operating the interchange of drugs within the numerous processes and finally smuggling them into the North. With the security that they have underwent in entering Korean peninsula, authorities are aware that these fraudsters are highly skilled, making it más challenging to capture them.