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Vinylon, also known as Vinalon, is a synthetic fiber produced from
polyvinyl alcohol Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH, PVA, or PVAl) is a water-soluble synthetic polymer. It has the idealized formula H2CH(OH)sub>''n''. It is used in papermaking, textile warp sizing, as a thickener and emulsion stabilizer in polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) ...
, using
anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...
and
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
as raw materials. Vinylon was first developed in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in 1939 by
Ri Sung-gi Ri Sung-gi, also often spelled Lee Sung-ki, Lee Seung-gi or Yi Sung-gi (1905–1996), was a North Korean chemist. He is best remembered as the inventor of Vinalon. He has also been accused of involvement in North Korea's North Korea and weapons ...
, Ichiro Sakurada, and H. Kawakami. Trial production began in 1954 and in 1961 the massive February 8 Vinylon Complex was built in
Hamhung Hamhŭng (''Hamhŭng-si''; ) is North Korea's second-largest List of cities in North Korea, city, and the capital of South Hamgyong, South Hamgyŏng Province. It has an estimated population of 768,551. Located in the southern part of the South Ham ...
,
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
. Vinylon's widespread usage in North Korea is often pointed to as an example of the implementation of the ''
Juche ''Juche'' ( ; ), officially the ''Juche'' idea (), is the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea. North Korean sources attribute its conceptualization to Kim Il-sung, the country's founder and ...
'' philosophy, and it is known as the ''Juche'' fiber. Vinylon is the national fiber of North Korea and is used for the majority of textiles, outstripping fiber such as
cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
or
nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
, which is produced only in small amounts in North Korea. Other than clothing, vinylon is also used for shoes, ropes, and quilt wadding. Japanese-Canadian textile artist
Toshiko MacAdam Toshiko MacAdam (born Toshiko Horiuchi) is a Japanese textile artist based in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is best known for her work with large-scale textile structures, especially "textile playgrounds" for children, brightly colored net-l ...
used vinylon in her early works, as it was more economical than
nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
. Vinylon is resistant to heat and chemicals but has several disadvantages: being stiff, having a relatively high manufacturing cost, and being difficult to dye.


Colonial origins

Between the years 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled as a Japanese colony. This fact forced the integration of Korea into the Japanese empire's economic and political spheres. Thus, after the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
began in 1937, Korea was integrated into the Japanese war effort. It was amid Japan's efforts towards creating a more scientific and technologically advanced country for the war when a team of researchers worked to fabricate Vinylon.  The first successful creation of Vinylon was in 1939, by a
Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...
research team in Japan.Lee, Hy-Sang. North Korea : a Strange Socialist Fortress. Westport, Conn., Praeger, 2001. However, Vinylon was later brought to North Korea by Ri Sung-gi, one of the researchers of the Kyoto University team, amid North Korean campaign aimed at the recruitment of scientists and engineers from South Korea in the period following Korea's liberation from Japan in 1945. He was working as a professor at
Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three "S ...
at the time. During the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, when Seoul was occupied by the
Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Under the ''Songun'' policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Currently, WPK General Sec ...
, Ri was offered a research position in North Korea. Ri Sung-gi accepted and defected to the North.


Original purpose

After the liberation of Korea in 1945, North Korea was under
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
occupation and thus provided with aid by the Soviets as a means to stabilize the country. Beginning at the end of the Korean War in 1953, the Soviet Union,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and other
communist countries A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
began actively providing foreign aid to North Korea.Kim, Jiyoung. “The Politics of Foreign Aid in North Korea.” The Korean Journal of International Studies , vol. 12, no. 2, Dec. 2014, pp. 425–450. Therefore, the North Korean economy heavily depended on aid from other socialist countries. However, in the 1960s, the aid from the Soviet Union decreased. North Korea was no longer receiving aid in the form of grants, but loans. Hence, the North Korean leadership decided to accelerate efforts towards developing a self-sufficient economy. This resulted in the full mobilization of domestic resources. Beginning in 1961, North Korea launched its
First Seven-Year Economic Development Plan First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
, which focused on technological innovations, cultural revolution, improvement of living standards, modernization of the economy, and the facilitation of trade and international economic cooperation. As a result, the North Korean government decided to develop the vinylon industry and build Vinylon City.


Vinylon City

In the early stages of North Korea's history, the government under
Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...
and the official "''
Juche ''Juche'' ( ; ), officially the ''Juche'' idea (), is the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea. North Korean sources attribute its conceptualization to Kim Il-sung, the country's founder and ...
''" (self-reliance) ideology promoted the idea that the only way to reach the goal of economic independence was through heavy machine industry. The manufacturing of vinylon was therefore taken as a step towards developing North Korea as a modern industrial state. With such an appeal to nationalism, the North Korean government mobilized its citizens for constructing and supporting a new vinylon factory, called Vinylon City. In 1961, Vinylon City, the factory compound for producing vinylon, was built in the northeastern industrial city of Hungnam. The construction of the factory took fourteen months, which was quite fast considering that fifty buildings made up Vinylon City. Vinylon City had a total floor space of , 15,000 production machines, 1,700 container tanks, and of piping. The tallest building in Vinylon City, measuring in height with a smokestack, was the
acetic acid Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component ...
shop. The spinning shop, which was responsible of creating the vinylon fiber and shipping, was the largest building— long and wide, with floor space. Vinylon City became the pride of North Korea, being touted as having been built without foreign assistance. The success of Vinylon City demonstrated independence from the Soviet Union and China and appeared to reflect the ''Juche'' ideology. Even though workers had to complete dangerous tasks and some ultimately lost their lives for the sake of demonstrating the country's capabilities, vinylon thus served as a reinforcement of the party's ideological command and the Kim family's rule. The city began with a goal of producing enough fiber to supply the entire country with clothing, shoes, and other necessities, a goal that appears to have been met for several decades. The fiber produced from Vinylon City was considered so important that during the annual commemoration of
Kim Il-sung's birthday The Day of the Sun () is an annual public holiday in North Korea on 15 April, the birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung, founder and Eternal President of North Korea. It is the most important national holiday in the country, and is considered to be ...
, the people were given gifts of vinylon clothing. However, the North Korean economy eventually collapsed, and fuel shortages forced the city to close down in 1994. Vinylon City remained closed for sixteen years, until its re-opening in 2010.


Re-opening of the Vinylon Complex

On February 8, 2010,
Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...
visited the former Vinylon City complex in Hamhung to celebrate its reopening. Kim was accompanied by high-ranking officers of the party, such as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly
Kim Yong-nam Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese f ...
, Defense Minister
Kim Yong-chun Kim Yong-chun (4 March 1936 – 16 August 2018) was a North Korean soldier and politician. He was a leader of the North Korean military. He held the North Korean military rank Chasu (Vice Marshal), was Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commi ...
and Korean Workers’ Party secretaries Kim Ki-nam and Choi Tae-bok. This was the first documented time he ever attended an industrial mass rally. While his attendance, and that of the most important party members, could signify the importance of the vinylon complex and its role in advancing the economic policies of Kim Jong-il, there is evidence that the facility could play a role in the North Korean nuclear weapons program. Based on an analysis of satellite imagery, information from Ko Chong-song (a North Korean official who had defected), and a number of North Korean technical documents, there is speculation that the Hamhung plant is manufacturing
unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH; 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, НДМГ or codenamed Geptil) is a chemical compound with the formula H2NN(CH3)2 that is used as a rocket propellant. It is a colorless liquid, with a sharp, fishy, ammonia-like smell ...
, a rocket fuel that is used in North Korean long-range missiles.


Historical significance

Although vinylon was initially used to help develop the North Korean economy as a home-grown product, it also became intertwined with nationalism. As a result, vinylon became a firm part of the North Korean national identity.


References


Further reading

*


External links


NKChosun.com

Fibers-Poly-Vinyl-Alcohol
{{Authority control Korean clothing Science and technology in North Korea Synthetic fibers Korean inventions Japanese inventions