Many Pyongyang citizens have a deep attachment to Kumgang medicinal stone drink.

“As an old saying goes, if you drink good water, you can live a long healthy life. Since I started drinking Kumgang medicinal stone drink, I got over my chronic gastritis, my blood pressure and blood sugar level got fixed and acne cleared up on my face,” said Jong Yong Ok living in Sochon-dong of Sosong District, Pyongyang.

There are many stalls selling the drink across the capital city for the convenience of citizens and to satisfy their demand.

Nutritionists believe that a major cause of diseases developing in humans is the imbalance of nutrients in the body and it is associated with deficiency of inorganic minerals such as microelements.

However, the intake of food is just not enough to replenish the minerals needed in the human body.

The Kumgang medicinal stone is ideal for supplementing minerals as it contains more than 60 kinds of essential microelements including calcium and magnesium and over a dozen kinds of rare-earth elements, according to O Ryon Suk, director of the Suhung technology company under the Pyongyang Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Management Bureau.

The medicinal stone has adsorptive and sterilizing effects on several pathogenic bacteria and harmful heavy metals and can enhance the functions of all body cells and internal organs remarkably and also increase the resistance to diseases and the natural healing property of the body, she added.

President Kim Il Sung personally named the stone which was discovered for the first time in the country. Afterwards, research into the stone has been intensified under the care of the state and there are now over 200 stalls in the city dedicated to producing and serving the drink which is made from an extract of the stone.

Each stall is equipped with facilities needed for the drink production including water tank, filter and ozone sterilizer. Saleswomen examine the water quality with such indices as pH, smell, taste and turbidity before beginning the day’s service.

“The efficacy of the drink is really mysterious,” said Ri Il Hwa, saleswoman at the Kumgang medicinal stone drink stall in Kwanmun-dong No. 2 of Rangnang District. “As we get more regular customers, we get more intent on serving the drink.”

Among the regular customers are war veterans Kim Pyong Gwan and Chae Hong Gyu, who are 88 years old.

The veterans who have been drinking the water for six years said that they drink a cup of this drink before going to sleep at night and just after waking up in the morning, which helps them fall fast asleep and feel refreshed in the morning. They can read newspapers without glasses and still have a keen sense of hearing, they said, adding they have become really attached to the drink.

Recently, the small molecular water making technology and magnetizing technology, which are advanced drink processing methods, have been introduced into drink production so that a new Kumgang medicinal stone drink with improved taste and efficacy is now available.