Location: Hamhŭng (咸興市), South Hamgyŏng Province (咸鏡南道), North Korea

Telephone number: +850-53-22-4191; Pyongyang office: +850-2-921-1868

Subordinate to: 5th Machine Industry Bureau (第5機械産業總局), Second Economic Committee (第2經濟委員會) for chemical weapons production; and the Ministry of Chemical Industry (化學工業省) for civilian production

Size: Approximately 500,000-meter lot and 40,000-meter factory floor space; a total of about 50 large buildings; 10,000 tons of equipment and 50 kilometers of piping; 50,000-ton production capacity for vinalon and 10,000-ton production capacity for movilon (another synthetic fiber) per year; about 10,000 employees; this complex is one of the largest chemical facilities in North Korea.
Primary Function: Production of the synthetic fibers vinalon and movilon, carbide, methanol, sodium hydroxide, livestock feed, sodium carbonate, vinyl chloride, agricultural insecticide (probably organochlorine types); alleged production of CW agents, including blister, choking, nerve, and tear agents

Description: The February 8th Vinalon Complex occupies the grounds of a former Japanese-owned factory that processed acetylene carbide to produce iso-octane for aviation fuel during World War II. Dr. Lee Sŭng Ki, a famous chemical engineer and the inventor of vinalon, supervised the construction of the February 8th Vinalon Complex, which began in 1959 and was completed in 1961. The facility was the first dedicated vinalon production plant in North Korea, and it was organized as a "complex" (聯合企業所) in 1974. According to the Segye Ilbo, the 13th Nuclear Chemical Defense Battalion is posted here. There are no firm details about the types of CW agents that may be produced at this facility.

This photograph of the February 8th Vinalon Complex was reportedly taken in November 1974 (source unknown).

This photograph was taken from almost the exact same vantage point in 2000 (source unknown).

	Updated April 2003

Key Sources:
Various Korean media sources, in "Photographs of DPRK's February 8 Vinalon Complex, Alleged CW Site," FBIS Document ID: KPP20010522000228; Kim Yong-chun, Kook Pang Ilbo, 3 December 1999, p. 3, in "Has North Korea Chosen Chemical and Germ War Instead of Nuclear War?" FBIS Document ID: FTS19991212000879; Sŏn Chong Ku, "Puk Haekhwahakpang'wiguk: Haeksaenghwahangmugi Ch'ongjihwi," Segye Ilbo, 21 May 1997, p. 17, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.com/ >; Lee Chae Sŭng, "Pukhan Kwahag'ŭi Isanggwa Hyŏnshil," Chapter Three in Pukhan'ŭl Umjiginŭn Technocrat (Seoul: Ilbit, August 1998), pp. 123-174, in "Chemical Engineering, Experts Described," 23 December 1999, FBIS Document ID: FTS19991223001168; "Kyeyŏlsaengsanch'eje Hyŏngsŏnghan Kong'ŏpdanji/Yŏnhapkiŏpso," Hankook Ilbo, 24 January 1994, p. 23, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.com/>; North Korea Information Bank, "2.8 Bi'nallon," Hyundai Research Institute, 2000, <http://www.nk-infobank.com/>.