DPRK folk remedy is widely available in China despite wildlife trafficking concerns, but it may all just be a scam
July 4, 2024
North Korean tiger bone wine packaging | Image: Foreign Trade of DPR Korea, edited by NK News
Despite sanctions and pandemic restrictions, a shadowy trade continues to thrive on the Chinese web for an unusual North Korean product that could be contributing to wildlife smuggling — tiger bone wine.
This traditional alcoholic beverage, which purportedly uses tiger bones as a primary ingredient, has its roots in ancient Chinese medicine. It is believed to enhance strength and vitality, promote healthy blood circulation and act as an aphrodisiac.
The production and sale of the wine raise concerns about the possible exploitation of endangered big cats and Pyongyang’s participation in illegal wildlife trafficking.
But there’s a catch: North Korean tiger bone wine may be among the country’s best-performed scams, with producers tricking customers — mainly from China — into buying a potent brew of unknown ingredients.
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
It’s unclear when North Korea started selling tiger bone wine, but production appears to go back decades.
A 1995 article by The Independent named Pyongyang Zoo Pharmaceutical Factory as a brewer, and labels on bottles of North Korean tiger bone wine have also identified other major manufacturers, including Pyongyang Medical University, Tucheng Pharmaceutical Factory and Wannian Trading Company.
The wine is marketed as an alternative medicine, mainly to treat rheumatism and arthritis, rather than a spirit for casual drinking. Labels on the bottles suggest diluting 8-20 ml of the wine with an equal amount of water and taking it up to three times a day.
One bottle seen by NK News listed wood claw, omija berries, parsnip root, gastrodia elata and angelica root — all used in traditional Asian medicine — among its ingredients, in addition to tiger bone.
Nowadays, North Korean tiger bone wine is mainly sold on Chinese webshops — usually by private sellers — and by vendors in Southeast Asian countries, mainly in Laos.
The DPRK is also known to sell the alcoholic tonic out of its overseas restaurants, which it operates in violation of international sanctions that prohibit North Koreans from working abroad.
But tiger bone wine is illegal or heavily regulated in many countries due to its putative use of body parts from a highly endangered animal.
Beijing is a member of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), which precludes the import of tiger bone wine. While the DPRK is not a signatory, the use of actual tiger bones would fly in the face of North Korea’s professed commitment to wildlife conservation.
Two years ago, North Korea’s ambassador to Russia pledged that Pyongyang would help Moscow protect the few remaining Siberian tigers in Northeast Asia.
“Tigers have historically been the symbol of the Korean nation,” he said.
The two countries are also exploring another project to protect Amur leopards, another endangered big cat that once roamed the Korean Peninsula.
North Korean tiger bone wine packaging | Image: Foreign Trade of DPR Korea, edited by NK News
Despite sanctions and pandemic restrictions, a shadowy trade continues to thrive on the Chinese web for an unusual North Korean product that could be contributing to wildlife smuggling — tiger bone wine.
This traditional alcoholic beverage, which purportedly uses tiger bones as a primary ingredient, has its roots in ancient Chinese medicine. It is believed to enhance strength and vitality, promote healthy blood circulation and act as an aphrodisiac.
The production and sale of the wine raise concerns about the possible exploitation of endangered big cats and Pyongyang’s participation in illegal wildlife trafficking.
But there’s a catch: North Korean tiger bone wine may be among the country’s best-performed scams, with producers tricking customers — mainly from China — into buying a potent brew of unknown ingredients.
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
It’s unclear when North Korea started selling tiger bone wine, but production appears to go back decades.
A 1995 article by The Independent named Pyongyang Zoo Pharmaceutical Factory as a brewer, and labels on bottles of North Korean tiger bone wine have also identified other major manufacturers, including Pyongyang Medical University, Tucheng Pharmaceutical Factory and Wannian Trading Company.
The wine is marketed as an alternative medicine, mainly to treat rheumatism and arthritis, rather than a spirit for casual drinking. Labels on the bottles suggest diluting 8-20 ml of the wine with an equal amount of water and taking it up to three times a day.
One bottle seen by NK News listed wood claw, omija berries, parsnip root, gastrodia elata and angelica root — all used in traditional Asian medicine — among its ingredients, in addition to tiger bone.
Nowadays, North Korean tiger bone wine is mainly sold on Chinese webshops — usually by private sellers — and by vendors in Southeast Asian countries, mainly in Laos.
The DPRK is also known to sell the alcoholic tonic out of its overseas restaurants, which it operates in violation of international sanctions that prohibit North Koreans from working abroad.
But tiger bone wine is illegal or heavily regulated in many countries due to its putative use of body parts from a highly endangered animal.
Beijing is a member of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), which precludes the import of tiger bone wine. While the DPRK is not a signatory, the use of actual tiger bones would fly in the face of North Korea’s professed commitment to wildlife conservation.
Two years ago, North Korea’s ambassador to Russia pledged that Pyongyang would help Moscow protect the few remaining Siberian tigers in Northeast Asia.
“Tigers have historically been the symbol of the Korean nation,” he said.
The two countries are also exploring another project to protect Amur leopards, another endangered big cat that once roamed the Korean Peninsula.
A taxidermied tiger at the zoo in Pyongyang | Image: NK News (Sept. 2017)
NO BONES ABOUT IT
It’s far from certain that any tiger bones are actually used in the production of the North Korean tonics, however.
North Korean tiger bone wine is widely sold on Chinese websites, with prices ranging from around $20 per bottle up to $200, suggesting that production is high while raising questions about how the DPRK could farm enough tiger bones to brew so much.
On the one hand, the fact that Pyongyang Zoo Pharmaceutical Factory is a major producer of the wine implies that it uses the bones of tigers kept at the country’s biggest animal park.
But Rowan Beard, a tour operator at Young Pioneer Tours, told NK News that there are only “a few tigers” at the Korea Central Zoo — most likely not enough to support wine production.
Beard said he has asked North Koreans about where the country gets tiger bones for the wine before and that he was told they come from “specially farmed tigers up in the northeast.”
“But I can’t possibly imagine a farm specifically for farming tigers in North Korea,” the tour operator said.
DPRK state media has not reported on tiger farms in the country, and none are known to exist.
One possibility is that the DPRK producers reuse tiger bones over and over, rather than adding new bones to each batch. Images of whole skeletons in vats of tiger bone wine in China appear to support the theory that bone could be reused somewhat like a whisky cask.
However, wildlife trafficking investigator Karl Ammann told NK News he had 10 samples of tiger bone wine — including one North Korean bottle — tested by the forensic lab at the University of Zurich as part of his research for a documentary on tiger trafficking, and the results “did not show any evidence of any tiger DNA” were present in the samples.
NO BONES ABOUT IT
It’s far from certain that any tiger bones are actually used in the production of the North Korean tonics, however.
North Korean tiger bone wine is widely sold on Chinese websites, with prices ranging from around $20 per bottle up to $200, suggesting that production is high while raising questions about how the DPRK could farm enough tiger bones to brew so much.
On the one hand, the fact that Pyongyang Zoo Pharmaceutical Factory is a major producer of the wine implies that it uses the bones of tigers kept at the country’s biggest animal park.
But Rowan Beard, a tour operator at Young Pioneer Tours, told NK News that there are only “a few tigers” at the Korea Central Zoo — most likely not enough to support wine production.
Beard said he has asked North Koreans about where the country gets tiger bones for the wine before and that he was told they come from “specially farmed tigers up in the northeast.”
“But I can’t possibly imagine a farm specifically for farming tigers in North Korea,” the tour operator said.
DPRK state media has not reported on tiger farms in the country, and none are known to exist.
One possibility is that the DPRK producers reuse tiger bones over and over, rather than adding new bones to each batch. Images of whole skeletons in vats of tiger bone wine in China appear to support the theory that bone could be reused somewhat like a whisky cask.
However, wildlife trafficking investigator Karl Ammann told NK News he had 10 samples of tiger bone wine — including one North Korean bottle — tested by the forensic lab at the University of Zurich as part of his research for a documentary on tiger trafficking, and the results “did not show any evidence of any tiger DNA” were present in the samples.
No comments:
Post a Comment