Abstract
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.
