North Korea claims Aids cure SEOUL: North Korea says it has succeeded where the greatest minds in science have failed. The authoritarian, impoverished nation better known for pursuing a nuclear programme despite global criticism announced yesterday a drug that it said can prevent and cure Mers, Ebola, Sars and Aids. The secretive state did not provide proof, and the claim is likely to provoke widespread scepticism. The official Korean Central News Agency said scientists developed Kumdang-2 from ginseng and other ingredients. North Korea trumpeted the same drug during deadly bird flu outbreaks in 2006 and 2013. The North's claim comes as rival South Korea fights an outbreak of Mers that has killed two dozen people and sickened more than 160 since last month. There is no vac- cine for the disease.