Mining Engineering (채굴공학 / Chaegul Konghak)
Mining Engineering
채굴공학 / Chaegul Konghak
Translation and backgrounder by Stephen Mercado
A quarterly journal on the science and technology of extracting coal and other minerals from the earth, published by the Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House.
Journal Title: The journal title has various renderings. Mining 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 Ch’aegul konghak. In North Korean media, the journal’s title is transliterated Chaegul 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) Mining Institute and relevant academic departments. For example, Jong Kwang Sok, while publishing without further information in Issue 3, 2022, cited an article of his published abroad in a 2020 issue of the journal Minerals Engineering. In that piece, Jong’s affiliation was published as the Department of Mineral Processing, Faculty of Mining Engineering, Kim Chaek University of Technology. Further, as corresponding author, Jong also posted an email address consisting of what appears to be the initials for his name and his date of birth: j[email protected].
Subject Matter: The articles have to do with the development of various practices and techniques in mining.
References: Authors publishing in this journal tend to cite domestic, Chinese and Western monographs and journal articles. Domestic citations include the journals광업 (Mining) and 석탄공업 (Coal Industry). Cited Chinese periodicals include 稀有金属 (Chinese Journal of Rare Metals), 石油机械 (China Petroleum Machinery), 中国矿业大学学报 (Journal of China University of Mining & Technology). Among the referenced Western journals are Geological Survey, Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics, and Spatial Modeling Principles in Earth Sciences.
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 table of contents (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 slogan 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, such as “Lessons” (강좌) and “Legal Commentary” (법무해설). 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) at the lower right corner over a bar code 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 Issue 3, 2018, the publisher’s name printed on the front cover was 과학기술출판사 (Kwahak Kisul Chulpansa, the Science and Technology Publishing House). Confusingly, the front cover for 2016, 2017, and 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 March, for a total of four issues per year. Issue 3 (September), 2022, according to the table of contents and the publishing information page, was cumulative issue number 237. 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 29 August Juche 111 (2022), and the date of issue was 11 September Juche 111 (2022). The copyright line was © Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House 2022, DPR Korea.