Ri Sung Gi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ri Sung Gi
Chosŏn'gŭl:	리승기
Hanja:	李升基
McCune-Reischauer:	Ri Sŭng Ki
Revised Romanization:	Ri Seung Gi

Ri Sung Gi, also often spelled Lee Sung Ki 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 chemical and nuclear weapons programs.

Ri was born in Damyang, Jeollanam-do, in 1905. He graduated from the local pot'ong hakkyo and received his degree in chemistry from Kyoto University in 1931. He developed Vinalon in 1939, the same year that he received his doctorate in chemistry. In 1946, after Korean independence, he participated in the development of Kyŏngsŏng University, but strongly opposed the university's official conversion to Seoul National University under the American military government. Following the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, he defected to the North.

Ri received the Lenin Prize in 1962, and was made head of the North Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute in June 1965. He became chief of the Hamhŭng branch of the Academy of Sciences in 1984.^[1]

[edit] Notes

^ According to Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Country Overviews: North Korea. Retrieved on September 30, 2006., which cites a 1998 work by Lee Chae Sŭng. However, Naver asserts that he held that position from 1961 to 1986.