The coronavirus outbreak has come at a critical time for Ignis Community’s Pyongyang Spine Rehabilitation Center (PYSRC). After finally raising the needed funds and obtaining both a US Commerce License and UN Exemption, this week Ignis Community is finally sending our first shipment of medical and rehabilitation equipment to Pyongyang for the treatment of pediatric developmental disabilities and other spinal conditions. The medical equipment is scheduled to arrive in Pyongyang within a week or two.

This is the first medical shipment of several more to follow. Finding a way to get medical equipment into the DPRK has not been easy. Ignis Community had to overcome three major obstacles in order for this to medical shipment to become reality. First, we had to find a freight vessel willing to ship our medical equipment into the DPRK. In the midst of global sanctions against North Korea and current Covid-19 border restrictions, it was nearly impossible to find a cargo ship that was able to carry our container inside the country.

Second, because our UN Exemption was scheduled to expire on March 5th, Ignis Community had to reapply for a UN Exemption. We successfully received an extension on February 24th, and our new exemption expands our window of shipping medical equipment into North Korea by 6-months, through the end of August 2020.

Our last obstacle was overcoming Chinese customs. Due to global sanctions against the DPRK, strict rules against shipping items into the DPRK requires much communication and can lead to misunderstandings. Thankfully through cooperation between the U.S. State Department and China customs, Ignis Community’s medical shipment has been cleared with our current UN Exemption. 

Ignis Community’s three 40-foot containers contain medical treatment beds, rehabilitation modalities, and pediatric therapeutic equipment for adult and pediatric treatment of developmental disabilities such as cerebral palsy. The medical equipment will go directly to the Pyongyang Medical School Hospital’s campus where the PYSRC is located. The PYSRC is a brand-new five-story medical facility that will provide both out-patient and in-patient care and medical services for various muscular-skeletal conditions as well as treatment for children with developmental disabilities. 

Treatment for developmental disabilities such as cerebral palsy is a great need in North Korea. Prior to this project, most children with special needs were either not treated, isolated behind doors at home, or even allowed to die. Although in developed nations, disabilities are not considered a life-threatening condition, in North Korea, it often is. Up until a few years ago, expert treatment for various disabilities such as cerebral palsy, autism, and other developmental disabilities was nonexistent. Parents had few options for support or treatment for their children. As a result, they had no hope. According to the doctors’ advice, they would often “let their child go quickly”.

But in order for children with developmental disabilities to have a hope for a future, they require years of rehabilitation therapy. In partnership with the Pyongyang Medical School, Ignis Community is not only providing treatment for children with developmental disabilities but also training doctors in a new graduate specialty programs on Pyongyang Medical School Hospital’s campus.

Currently because the DPRK border is closed in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak, there are only two possible ways to send shipments into North Korea. The first method is through the Dandong, China and Sinuiju, DPRK border. Here containers can be transported by train from China into Pyongyang. From Pyongyang, the DPRK government distributes the goods to the various provinces in North Korea. However, this method is slow as the quantity of shipments going through the border is backed up. Stringent Covid-19 regulations are delaying the process and postponing the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Ignis Community’s shipment for the PYSRC will be using the second route currently open for humanitarian organizations working in the DPRK. Since medical goods are being transported via cargo ship, the shipment will reach the coastal city of Dalian, China. There after a few days of inspection, it will be shipped through the Yellow Sea, or West Sea of Korea, directly to the harbor city of Nampo, DPRK. Nampo is only one-hour’s drive away from the capital city of Pyongyang. Once the shipment arrives in Nampo, it will be transferred directly to the PYSRC via semi-truck.

Despite current, almost unsurmountable restrictions, there is light at the end of the tunnel. For the sake of the thousands who are in desperate need of life-saving medical treatment in the DPRK, Ignis Community continues to be send humanitarian aid into North Korea and meet the needs of children with developmental disabilities throughout the nation.

Throughout the years, the development of the PYSRC has been delayed on multiple occasions. And now, with the entire world dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, sending humanitarian aid into North Korea is even that much more challenging. But despite all of these challenges, Ignis Community has been able to forge on, fulfilling our promises to our donors, our organization, and most importantly to the innocent children of the DPRK.