A Study on the Terminological Heterogeneity in Chemistry between South and North Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Since the division of South and North Korea in 1945, there has been little exchange in science and technology, despite some interchange in a few fields including the chemistry area. Accordingly, the difference in scientific and technological terminology between the two Koreas has become intensified. This is because North Korea carried out a campaign to purify the Korean language and blocked the inflow of foreign words. They also tried to convert into their own North Korean terms in many fields. This circumstance in North Korea aggravated the heterogeneity of inter-Korean scientific and technological terms. In particular, the heterogeneity of chemical terminology has worsened due to the different characteristics of the technology donor countries such as the United States and Japan in South Korea, and China and the Soviet Union in North Korea between the two Koreas and the different way of technological development. The purpose of this study is to collect chemical terminology data used in two Koreas and analyze similarities and differences. Through comparative analysis of inter-Korean terminology in the chemical field, it can be possible to recognize how the chemical terms between the two Koreas have changed since the division and the degree of heterogeneity based on different technical systems and language policies. The outcome of this study would present basic data on the unification of chemical terminology in preparation for before and after unification, and contribute to communication and academic exchange between researchers in the inter-Korean scientific and technological fields, including chemistry.