{"id":4069,"date":"2019-02-15T15:29:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T06:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=4069"},"modified":"2019-02-19T17:27:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T08:27:08","slug":"20190215-sunchon-vinylon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2019\/02\/movie\/20190215-sunchon-vinylon\/","title":{"rendered":"[Video Report] Visiting an abandoned factory district: Sunchon Vinylon fiber factories left in ruins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/csGfH90wz5g?list=PLpCEn7dS6-toFNQEV-oefnOBd7ZgUl0kC\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The site of North Korea's largest coal chemical producer, Sunchon Vinylon United Corporation, is regarded by most North Koreans as a symbol of the socialist state\u2019s failed economic strategy of self-sustainment.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLpCEn7dS6-toFNQEV-oefnOBd7ZgUl0kC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u25ceASIAPRESS rimjingang playlist<\/a>&gt;&gt;<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the past, images of this area had been provided solely by the regime. In July 2009, however, ASIAPRESS reporter Kim Dong-cheol, a frequent visitor to Sunchon since the 1990's, was able to capture the true state of the factory district on camera for the very first time.<\/p>\n<p>The factories show no signs of operation and huge pipelines are completely rusted. The factory site has largely been converted into a cornfield and there seems to be no industrial equipment at all inside the buildings. Kim Dong-cheol reported that the workers and nearby residents had apparently taken them all. The only remaining article on the site, in fact, is a banner that reads: 'We will follow the General a thousand miles'.<\/p>\n<p>Although a tremendous amount of money and manpower was invested into the project, as ordered by Kim Il-sung, the project failed to gain any headway, with no explanation ever provided to the people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related article: <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2017\/02\/movie\/20170224-nk-video-coal\/\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" rel=\"noopener\">[Video Report] Residents diligently picking up coal ~Earning five times more than monthly wage in just a day~<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>* What is Vinylon?<\/strong><br \/>\nVinlyon is a chemical fiber resistant to friction and chemical degradation that was originally developed by Kyoto Imperial University researchers in 1939. Only the second chemical fiber to ever be developed, after nylon, it became North Korea\u2019s industrial material of choice and gained praised as the \u201cJuche textile\u201d of North Korea during the 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s. Used mainly as a course material for work clothes, Vinylon production in North Korea was aided by Dr. Ri Sung-gi, one of the material\u2019s original researchers in Kyoto. With his defection to North Korea, Dr. Ri became the nation\u2019s most famous scientist.<\/p>\n<div class=\"editer_diver_kiji\">\n<div class=\"editer_diver_kiji_title\">\uff1cRelated Article\uff1e<\/div>\n<ul class=\"diver_rel_kiji\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2019\/02\/movie\/20190214-flagship-department-store\/\" title=\"[Video Report] No merchandise for sale at North Korea\" s=\"\" flagship=\"\" department=\"\" store=\"\">[Video Report] No merchandise for sale at North Korea's flagship department store<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2019\/01\/recommendations\/nk-china-smuggling\/\" title=\"\uff1cKim Jong-un\" s=\"\" visit=\"\" to=\"\" china=\"\" behind=\"\" the=\"\" scenes=\"\" of=\"\" smuggling=\"\" in=\"\" north=\"\" korea=\"\">\uff1cKim Jong-un's visit to China\uff1e Behind the scenes of smuggling in North Korea<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2019\/01\/recommendations\/renews-nationality-cards\/\" title=\"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Identity Crisis Resolved: Regime issues new ID\u2019s ahead of possible Supreme People\u2019s Assembly election\">\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Identity Crisis Resolved: Regime issues new ID\u2019s ahead of possible Supreme People\u2019s Assembly election<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2012\/07\/books\/release\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2193\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2193 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Rimjingang_banner001.gif\" alt=\"Rimjingang_banner001\" width=\"280\" height=\"120\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">* <a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2012\/07\/news\/north-korean-reporters\/\">Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a><strong><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/archives\/0002\/\"><br \/>\n<\/a><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/category\/report\/\">ALL REPORTS &gt;&gt;&gt;<\/a> <\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/category\/pdf-archive\/\">ARCHIVE(pdf) &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/img\/map\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DPRK MAP &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The site of North Korea's largest coal chemical producer, Sunchon Vinylon United Corporation, is regarded by most North \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}