Electricity, Automation Engineering (전기, 자동화공학 / Chongi, Chadonghwa Konghak)
Electricity, Automation Engineering
전기, 자동화공학 / Chongi, Chadonghwa Konghak
Translation and backgrounder by Stephen Mercado
A quarterly journal covering issues in engineering related to electrical and automated equipment and processes, published by the Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House.
Journal Title: The journal title has various renderings. Electricity, Automation Engineering is the name in English. Its name in a simplified version of the standard McCune-Reischauer (M-R) transliteration system and the actual title in Korean are listed above. Its full M-R transliteration, as used in catalogs of the Library of Congress and other major libraries, is Chŏn’ gi, chadonghwa konghak.
In the English version of the journal’s table of contents (TOC), the transliteration, rendered in all caps, is JONGI, JADONGHWAGONGHAK. Below the TOC, the English version appears between parentheses: (Electricity, Automation Engineering). In North Korean media, the journal title is transliterated as Jongi, Jadonghwa Gonghak.
Author Information: Editorials and anecdotes of the Revolution (혁명 일화) are unsigned. The research papers show author names but lack other information common to science papers, such as academic or professional affiliation, academic titles, areas of research or author biography. The journal’s title suggests possible author affiliation with the State Academy of Sciences (SAS) Automation Institute, Electricity Institute and/or related academic departments.
Subject Matter: The articles have to do with such areas of electricity and automation as control engineering and power systems in aerospace and other applications. For example, two authors in Issue 1, 2021 published an article on unmanned aerial robot (UAR) control: “Position Control of UAR Using Homography Decomposition.”
References: Authors publishing in this journal cite a wide variety of domestic, Chinese, and Western journal articles and monographs. Citations have included CNC기술총서 1 [Series on Computer Numerical Control Technology, 1,] Automatica, and 电网技术 (Power System Technology).
Sections: Each issue comprises a front cover; an unnumbered page with a framed quotation of one of the three generations of the Kim family; a TOC in Korean; the articles; a TOC in English; the publishing information; and the back cover. Regime messages/propaganda appear throughout the journal.
In recent years, the front cover shows a lead quotation over the journal title, under which is the name of the publisher, the issue number and year of issue and the corporate logo. The TOC in Korean starts with two or three items, each either an editorial or an anecdote of the Revolution. There follows some number of articles under the sections “Research Papers” (연구론문) and “Research Data” (연구자료). Some issues may include other sections. For example, the first issue of 2022 ends with the sections “Trends Data” (추세자료) and “Introductory Data” (소개자료). Following the articles is an abbreviated TOC in English; there are no translations for the material following the section “Research Papers,” which is translated as “Original Papers.” Next, there is the publishing information. The back cover has included the journal’s International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) over a bar code at the lower right corner in recent years.
Publisher: The publisher’s name, in English, is the Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House. It is the Kwahak Paekkwa Sajon Chulpansa in simplified M-R and 과학백과사전출판사 in Korean. The publisher’s name appears in Korean on the journal’s cover and in English on the copyright line on the publishing information page. In addition, the front cover includes the publisher’s logo: a globe, with a representation of the atom imposed at the top and an abbreviated version of the publisher’s Korean name, 백과 (Paekkwa), at the bottom.
Prior to the third issue of 2018, the publisher’s name printed on the front cover was 과학기술출판사 (Kwahak Gisul Chulpansa, the Science and Technology Publishing House). Confusingly, the front cover for the 2016 and 2017 issues, as well as the first two issues of 2018, show the Science and Technology Publishing House name together with the Paekkwa corporate logo.
The publisher publishes an issue each quarter, starting in January, totaling four issues per year. The third issue (July) of 2022, according to the TOC and publishing information page, was cumulative issue number 243. The publishing information page also indicated that there was an editorial committee (no members named), the publisher was the Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House, the place of printing was the Moranbong Printing Plant, the date of printing was 8 July Juche 111 (2022), and the date of issue was 20 July Juche 111 (2022). The copyright line was © Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House 2022, DPR Korea, but in some issues, the place of printing was the Pyongyang General Printing Plant, and the journal showed no copyright line, ISSN or telephone number.