[KS] North Korean industry, pre-WWII

[Bill Streifer]

I promised to report on that 12-page interview of an Austrian chemist who worked in Konan, Korea for 2.5 years before WWII began (approx. 1935-1938, plus a brief return in early-1940). And I always keep my promise.
This section of an FBI report was classified confidential due to a few documents that the FBI deferred to the Army for declassification decisions. It's basically an old U.S. War Department Military Intelligence Service (G-2) interview which was conducted at an Enemy Alien Internment Camp in Oklahoma. They were trying to gather information on the electochemical industries of Japan, Korea, and Manchuria, particularly with regard to the production of light metals such as magnesium and aluminium. Since the informant was never in Japan, he had nothing to say about that. Regarding Konan, however, he provided information on the production capacities of the plant, the types of resources, the extent to which magnesium was extracted from sea water, and the general layout and sources of power for the plants. The informant even drew three sketches: one of Korea, one of Konan, and one showing the location of the three dams and hydroelectric plants to the north, which I happen to know produced 1.2 million kilowatts of power; 400,000 kw of which were fed into the Konan complex. The interview was conducted by an agent of the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) in August 1942, but the informant provided similar information to British Intelligence earlier that year. Which means, he provided valuable military target information concerning the largest nitrogen fertilizer and chemical complex in the Far East more than two years before the first B-29 reconnaissance flight flew over that city. 
The report was declassified by the U.S. National Archive based on guidance provided by the U.S. Army. It took NARA more than 10 months to declassify it.
I hope that was informative.Bill Streifer  #yiv2184454178 #yiv2184454178 -- .yiv2184454178hmmessage P{margin:0px;padding:0px;}#yiv2184454178 body.yiv2184454178hmmessage{font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri;}#yiv2184454178 #yiv2184454178 #yiv2184454178 -- .yiv2184454178ExternalClass .yiv2184454178ecxhmmessage P {padding:0px;}#yiv2184454178 .yiv2184454178ExternalClass body.yiv2184454178ecxhmmessage {font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri;}#yiv2184454178 

  
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