By dispatching military doctors and establishing a hospital on DPRK territory during the Korean War, Czechoslovakia joined other Soviet satellites that maintained medical units there. The hospital’s legal status was complicated; the dispatch of doctors was formally covered by the Czechoslovak Red Cross, but reality deviated from standard protocol. According to the mission’s first leader, MUDr. Barták, reports on the group’s location to the enemy side (to prevent accidental attacks) were per ”local practice” not conducted. Moreover, the Czechoslovak mission’s role evolved from a frontline field hospital providing first aid to an evacuation hospital handling complex procedures and convalescent care.

The field hospital began operations in April 1952, two months after its creation was decided by the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Central Committee. Initially, it was staffed by 29 doctors, nurses, and medics, with a bed capacity of around 2,000. It first operated in the village of Sogam and was relocated near Hŭičchŏn in April 1953. At the same time, most of the personnel was replaced, and MUDr. Bedřich Placák became the new commander. He later gave a detailed account of his service in Paměti lékaře (Memoirs of a Doctor, 1997). In October 1953, the hospital was moved to Ch’ŏngjin, where it served the civilian population until the mission’s end in 1957.

The medical mission had to adapt to highly adverse conditions during its deployment. Individual medical stations were too distant from one another, and unsuitable terrain hindered connectivity between them. It was often impossible for trucks to pass, so the wounded were transported on two-wheeled carts. Personnel staffing was also not without issues, whether for doctors or support staff. The group lost its chief surgeon a few days before departing for Korea, and the lead doctor was criticized for insufficient political conviction as well as excessive supervision and criticism of Korean doctors and nurses. The Czechoslovak staff was unprepared for the challenging operations of the medical facility, the Koreans lacked adequate qualifications and language skills. Moreover, within days of the mission’s arrival, it lost its interpreter.

The establishment of the hospital in Ch’ŏngjin did not bring more stable medical care. The building had to be repeatedly rebuilt and re-equipped, with Czechoslovakia bearing all costs, as documented by inventories of required materials addressed to the Ministry of Health. Gradually, several operating rooms, laboratories, transfusion units, and X-ray facilities were put into service. The Czechoslovak donation also included eleven vehicles for transporting the wounded and logistics, field kitchens, and a disinfector.

During the Czechoslovak doctors’ tenure in Ch’ŏngjin, a traumatology textbook was created for the local staff by MUDr. Miloš Janeček in collaboration with Vladimír Pucek (1933–2022), then a student of Korean studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University.