Has North Korea Invented A Hangover-Free Alcohol?

North Korean scientists claim to have created a hangover-free alcohol, the state-run newspaper the Pyongyang Times reported over the weekend. Dubbed Koryo Liquor, the alcohol is reportedly produced from a type of indigenous ginseng called insam and glutinous rice, and cultivated by an organic farming method, boasting an alcohol content of 30 to 40 percent.

Koryo Liquor was touted in the Pyongyang Times as, “made of six-year-old Kaesong Koryo insam, known as being highest in medicinal effect, and the scorched rice, is highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover.”

The brew has been reportedly registered as a “national scientific and technological hit." It was developed after years of research by the Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory, which was able to eliminate the bitter taste of insam by replacing sugar with boiled and scorched glutinous rice, according to the Pyongyang Times. The scorched glutinous rice reportedly contains essential amino acids, inorganic substances, vitamins and helps quicken the breakdown of lipids. The alcohol has a bitter taste at first and then a "sweet, savory flavor," according to the Pyongyang Times.

“There are some high quality liquors made in North Korea, though in my experience there is no such thing as hangover-free booze anywhere in the world,” Andray Abrahamian, who travels to North Korea on business for Chosong Exchange, told the UK-based North Korean News website, BBC reported. Abrahamian claimed that insam liquors were “okay,” but that he is "not that keen on it as a tasty treat.”

Last year, North Korean scientists also reportedly released a vaccine called Kumdang-2 that they said could reportedly cure HIV/AIDS, drug addiction, cancer, MERS and Ebola, CNN reported.

North Korea’s latest claim comes just weeks after officials in the country said that they had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. The claim ignited a worldwide backlash, yet nuclear experts expressed doubt over the assertion.