Exactly what kind of party is Kim Jong-un planning?
Only a few weeks after claiming it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, North Korea is now touting its latest supposed scientific achievement: a hangover-free alcohol. The Pyongyang Times—the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s state-run newspaper—recently reported that scientists in the country have developed a “suave” liquor made with sweet rice and a type of indigenous ginseng, according to the U.K.-based North Korea News.
The state-run media claims that the drink—which is has been under development for several years by North Korea’s Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory—is between 30% and 40% alcohol, yet overindulging in it does not result in any of the typical hangover symptoms. According to the state’s report, the secret involves replacing sugar with “scorched” glutinous rice to remove any bitterness and avoid hangover symptoms.
Of course, as NK News points out, this isn’t the first time that North Korea has made a bold scientific claim related to its indigenous ginseng without necessarily offering, well, proof. Last year, the state media reported that the country’s researchers had developed medical products using ginseng extracts that could cure a variety of diseases, including MERS, SARS, the Ebola virus, and even AIDS.
Earlier this year, North Korea claimed it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb for the first time, though the rest of the world has had a difficult time verifying that claim, which came after detection devices recorded a significant seismic event along the country’s coast.
As Fortune has pointed out before, many an entrepreneur has tried in the past to market products that claim to cure hangovers (and many more attempts are likely still to come), but the world has yet to find a reliable solution to binge-drinking’s ugly result.
