hanja rr context article_title mr hangul
李升基 i seunggi north ri sung-gi
 ri sŭnggi 리승기
ri sung-gi

ri sung-gi , also often spelled lee sung-ki or yi sung-gi -lrb- 1905 -- 1996 -rrb- 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 .
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 .
