"Hold still! This is the new fall fashion dictated by Dear Leader!"
Posted on 09/30/2011 5:31:33 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
N.Korea's Textile Dream Turns to Rags
The low-grade synthetic fiber indelibly associated with North Korea's failed "juche" or self-reliance ideology has become fit only for rags, Radio Free Asia reported on Thursday.
Once touted as the future of the socialist clothing industry, Vinalon fabric is now chiefly used as rags, or as wallpaper paste by heating it to high temperatures, RFA quoted North Korean expatriates in China as saying.
Developed by Dr. Lee Sung-ki during Japanese colonial rule in 1939, Vinalon is made from limestone and anthracite, unlike other synthetic fibers that are made from petroleum by-products. It is produced only in North Korea.
The regime also produces "juche" iron and fertilizer, all made from anthracite because the North is desperately short of oil and coke due to economic difficulties and international sanctions but has plenty of anthracite.
The problem is its inefficiency. A Unification Ministry official said, "The North has to use too much electricity to extract Vinalon from anthracite. It would be more cost-effective to import finished textile products, even at a rip-off price."
The production facility, the February 8 Vinalon Complex in Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, was closed in 1994 because it was unable make ends meet.
But the regime reopened the complex in February last year, touting the occasion as a national festival.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited the complex on Feb. 7 and 9 last year and said, "I've never been happier than I am today." Some 100,000 people were mobilized for a mass rally in Hamhung on March 6 last year to celebrate the reopening.
But most North Koreans buy Chinese or South Korean-made clothes in the markets, a source familiar with North Korea said. "Vinalon doesn't make even the slightest contribution to improving people's lives."
P!
“.......as wallpaper paste by heating it to high temperatures.......”
Wondering if that’s what they use to glue up those posters of Chia Head all over No. Korea?
C’mon, somebody’s gotta wear the leatheral jump suits!
They should apply for a Federal Loan Guarantee.
lol. well, profit is a bad thing, right?
I hear that the South Korean owned KBS tv network will fund and air a NK-filmed drama with a cast approaching 30,000 slaves, I mean people. It’s not like the cast will have any real choice, of course and they better not ask to be paid, they is house elves.
Wonder how many Vinalon factories are envisioned in Obama’s “modern industrial economy” plans...
Sounds like they need a bailout.............
I bet they’re still paid better than most norks, after all, they’re on tv.
lol.
maybe better fed. ?
They really are the asshats of the far east.
Why, what an idea: after he taxes all the coal-fired power-plants out of existence, Obama can “save” coal mining jobs by making government guaranteed loans to Vinalon-making start-ups, not to mention the jobs “created” making the stuff. Oh, wait, without coal-fired plants there won’t be enough electricity to extract Vinalon from coal. . .
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.