We have analyzed 42 research papers regarding on the solar astronomy written by North Korea scientists to investigate the current status of astronomical activities in North Korea. The papers are surveyed from the ‘Bulletin of Astronomy’, the ‘Physics’, the ‘Bulletin of Academy of Science’, and the ‘Natural Science’ in North Korea, and SCI journals. In addition, we refer to the presentation material announced in the 2015 IAU by director of Pyongyang Astronomical Observatory (PAO) and the 2013 OAD/IAU reports. We have analyzed the papers statistically according to three criteria such as research subject, research field, and research members. The main research subjects are the sunspot (28%), observation system (21%), and space environments (19%). The research fields are distributed with data analysis (50%), numerical method (29%), and instrument development (21%). There have been 25 and 9 researchers in the solar astronomy and space environment, respectively since 1995. North Korea’s solar research activities were also investigated in three area: instrument, solar physics, and international research linkage. PAO has operated two of sunspot telescope and solar horizontal telescope for spectroscopy and polarimetry, but there is no specific information on solar radio telescopes. North Korea has cooperated in solar research with Europe and China. We expect that the results of this study will be used as useful resource in supporting astronomical cooperation between South and North Korea in the future.

We have investigated the North Korean astronomical articles published in five media such as the Rodong Sinmun (노동신문), Minju Choson (민주조선), Tongil Sinbo (통일신보), Munhak Sinmun (문학신 문), and Choson Sinbo (조선신보) for 15 years from 2005 to 2019. The astronomical articles were classified by subject to study the astronomical activity in North Korea. We have examined the perceptions of astronomy in North Korean society through the temporal variation of astronomical articles according to four subjects. As a result, we have found that there are many articles in the subject of Historical Astronomy and Astronomical News in the media. In the era of Kim Jong-un, the articles on the Historical Astronomy decreased while the Astronomy news tended to increase. We have also summarized the specific issues and topics including the change of the standard meridian, launch of satellites, astronomical news, and so forth. The North Korean astronomical article is a valuable resource to examine the current status of North Korea's astronomy and astronomical education. We expect the results of this study to be a useful resource in preparing for inter-Korean astronomical cooperation.

We compared and analyzed the astronomy terms currently used by astronomers in the two Koreas to promote inter-Korean astronomy cooperation. We analyzed a total of 2716 pairs of terms common in both Koreas glossaries, using the astronomical terminology contained in the South Korean source, the ‘Terminology of Astronomy’, and the North Korean source, ‘Mirror 2.0’. For each pair of terms, their morphological features and meanings were compared. We categorized into 11 groups for comparison of astronomical terms. We found that most of the terms are used similarly in the two Koreas. About 47% of the total is similar in form. Although terms are different, meanings communicate about 37% of the total. As a result, similar terms used by the two Koreas correspond to about 85% of the total. However, 15% of terms are difficult to understand because they have different forms or meanings such as diffraction (회 절/에돌이), flare (플레어/요반) etc. Further research on terms that are used differently by the two Koreas, and the conversion of appropriate terms through mutual understanding should be made in the future.

In order to encourage collaboration with North Korea in astronomy research field, we have studied the astronomical almanacs published in South and North Korea. The almanac contains fundamental astronomical data including not only daily calendar data but also unique characteristics selected by necessity in each country. We compared the South and North Korean astronomical almanacs in terms of contents, detailed descriptions, unique items, and so forth. We used the 2017 almanac for South Korea and 1993 almanac which is useful for this research for North Korea. We found that there were several differences between South and North Korean almanacs. The North Korean almanac is published for the astronomer or navigator, thus it has supplementary information about spherical astronomy such as precession of the north pole and position of celestial bodies. Whereas the South Korean almanac is published for the general public, and it distinctively contains luni-solar calendar, 24 solar terms, national holidays, etc. This study could be helpful for research cooperation between South and North Korea in astronomy.

We study a manuscript that includes 28 oriental constellations in the flags of barracks in Gangjin. According to the Joseon Chronicles, the constellation flags in the manuscript are thought to have originated from Seon-Pil Kim (金善弼) who first made 28 constellation flags for the barracks in 1878 during the Joseon Dynasty. Seon-Pil Kim was a commander and he used the 28 constellation flags for communications in a military camp. The flags also contain 28 animals and letter-like symbols with constellation maps. We examine the constellation maps in flags in terms of shapes and number of stars, and compare them with those of constellations in the Korean and Chinese star charts such as CheonSangYeolChaBunYaJiDo (天象列次分野之圖), Joseon-Butienge (朝鮮步天歌), Suzhou (蘇州) Star Chart, and Tang-Butiange (唐步天歌). Finally, we found that the shape of constellations in the flags might be similar to those in the Chinese Tang-Butienge. We also found several errors such as the shape, connecting pattern, and number of constellations drawn in the flags. It seems that the constellation flags were unofficially used in military camps in the late Joseon dynasty. Meanwhile, the 28 constellations are divided into four groups and each group has its own color and direction. We suppose that the constellation flags might represent the positions of military camps and each group of flags has their own color based on their cardinal points.

We summarize our preliminary study on the research cooperation method in the astronomy field between Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). To investigate the recent astronomical activities of North Korea, we have surveyed the published records of research papers and international collaborations associated with North Korean astronomers. We found only 4 astronomical papers among the identified 260 SCI papers related to North Korean researchers for the past 11 years. North Korean astronomers had very few interactions with the international astronomical society before rejoining IAU in 2012. Recently, North Korea made several astronomical research exchanges with China and Netherlands. They seemed to attend several international conferences and present their research results. We have studied possibilities to establish international networks to encourage the cooperation between South and North, and suggest to start collaboration in the historical astronomy. The collaboration can be expanded gradually to other fields in astronomy. There are many obvious political difficulties to have interactions with North Koreans. However, it will be necessary to make a long-term plan considering the reunification.

China and Korea have a long history of star charts, dating from the prehistoric period. Historically, Korean astronomy has been deeply influenced by China over the last two thousand years, particularly on constellation system. Therefore, Chinese and Korean traditional star charts have many similarities in terms of shape of constellation, number of star, and so forth. Korean star charts, however, have lots of unique characteristics distinguishing from Chinese ones, such as, size of star and position of constellation. Overall knowledge of the Chinese star chart is required to study the Korean star chart. In this paper, I focus on introducing selected star charts in China and Korea. Although this review is very limited, I hope that this paper is helpful in research in the field of historical astronomy.

We study the correlation between distributions of astronomical records and historical events using historical meteor (shower) records. In Korean chronicles, planets and meteor (shower) records are the most abundant astronomical phenomena. And they represent a general tendency of the number distribution of whole astronomical observations. We examine the correlation for the number distribution between meteors (showers) and planets during A.D. 1200-1700 and find that both records have a similar distribution. We classify historical events into three grades according to the social impact, and investigate the correlation between distributions of meteor (shower) records with social events, such as, new king's accession to the throne, foreign invasions, and domestic turmoils. From the statistical analysis, we cannot find any correlation between the meteor (shower) records and the political events. Therefore, we conclude that Korean historical records have not been influenced by the political events. We also examine the correlation between Chinese and Japanese meteor (shower) records and political events for A.D. 1200-1700, respectively, but cannot find any correlations between them.

Gaecheonjeol is the National Foundation day of Korea when people hold a harvest ceremony. Nowadays, two representative harvest ceremonies of Korea are performed at Mt. Mari (摩利山) and Mt. Taebaek (太白山) on Gaecheonjeol (October 3rd). We study 28 flags with constellations appearing in the ceremony of Mt. Taebaek. These flags are lying in the outer of the circular stone wall during the ceremony. They represent an oriental heavenly star chart. We examine the shape, the connecting-pattern, the name, and the number of constellations drawn in the flags, and find several errors, such as, a wrong position, a typo of name, an irregular size, an omission, and so forth. Traditionally, the 28 oriental constellations are usually divided into four groups and each group has its own colour for each direction: Blue (E), Black (N), White (W), and Red (S). For the constellation flags in Mt. Taebaek, the colour of the flags is painted based on geographical directions, but the constellations are arranged followed by the direction of the celestial sphere. Thus, constellations in the northern and southern parts are counterchanged. Finally, we suggest some possible criteria for constellation map of the flags in this paper. CheonSangYeolChaBunYaJiDo (天象列次分野之圖) and CheonMunRyuCho (天文類抄) can be essential references for correcting constellations drawn in the flags of Mt. Taebaek.

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), direct decendant of Korea National Astronomy Observatory, has been publishing Korean Astronomical Almanac since in 1976. The almanac contains essential data in our daily lives such as the times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset, conversion tables between luni-solar and solar calendars, and so forth. So, we are planning to register Korean astronomical almanac data for national Standard Reference Data(SRD), which is a scientific/technical data whose the reliablity and the accuracy are authorized by scientific analysis and evalution. To be certificated as national SRD, reference data has to satisfy several criteria such as traceability, consistency, uncertainty, and so on. Based on similarity among calculation processes, we classified astronomical almanac data into three groups: Class I, II, and III. We are planning to register them for national SRD in consecutive order. In this study, we analyzed Class I data which is aimed to register in 2009, and presented the results. Firstly, we found that the traceability and the consistency can be ensured by the usage of NASA/JPL DE405 ephemeris and by the comparsion with international data, respectively. To evaluate uncertainty in Class I data, we solved the mathematical model and determined the factors influencing the calculations. As a result, we found that the atmospheric refraction is the main factor and leads to a variation of ±16 seconds in the times of sunrise and sunset. We also briefly review the histories of astronomical almanac data and of standard reference data in Korea.