남북 천문분야 협력방안 기초 연구 I

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.