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."
