Rehabilitation of South Korea's Wire Industry

The UN Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA) has allocated $360,000 for the rehabilitation of South Korea's wire making plants, which were severely damaged during the war. By the end of 1954, most of the machinery and supplies (galvanized sheets, lumber, copper wire drawing machines, rubber and cotton covering machines, shearing machines, rolling machines, braiding and electrical testing equipment, wire weaving looms, alloy and diamond dies, soft steel billets, etc.) had arrived and was in operation. This picture was taken at the Dae Han Electric Wire Manufacturing Company, at Anyang, which produces 20,000 meters of wire daily and provides employment for 80 people; it shows two Korean women operating a cotton threading machine. This machine covers a copper wire with two layers of heavy cotton thread prior to running the wire through a pitch and asphalt mixture to provide the final heavy black insulation coating. [January 1955]