In the early Ming China, a Chinese-Islamic calendar, Huihui-lifa was compiled by a group of Chinese and Muslim astronomers. This early version of Huihui-lifa does not exist, but there are extant new versions of Huihui-lifa revised by Korean and Chinese astronomers in 1444 and 1477 under the name of Chiljeongsan Oepyeon and Qizheng Tuibu, respectively. These two version of Huihui-lifa include the Non-Ptolemaic star tables which give the longitudes, latitudes, and magnitudes of 277 stars in the ecliptic region. Interestingly, it is known that these star tables have a common origin with a star table in the Sanjufini zij of Tibet. This study, therefore, examines the epoch and precession rates of the star tables in the Chiljeongsan Oepyeon, Qizheng Tuibu and Sanjufini zij, and traces their origin and transmission route etc. In this work, we confirmed that the epoch and precession rate of star table in Sanjufini zij are vernal equinox of 1363 and 4′ per 5 lunar years, meanwhile those values of star table in the Huihui-lifa are winter solstice of 1390 and 4′ per 5 solar years. It shows that their precession rates are different despite of same origin. Unexpectedly, however, we find that their different precession rates came from the Chinese astronomer's misunderstanding of the Hijra lunar year as the solar year.

We have performed philological analyses and source criticism on the section of astronomical observations in the astronomical treatise in Yeolryosilgisul. The section contains four paragraphs as follows. The first paragraph describes the establishment of the royal astronomical bureau, the construction of an observational station, and the recruits of astronomers. The second paragraph describes an episode where King Sejong regarded the earthquake and comet as portents from the Heaven and while he himself observed the comet as careful responses, he understood the efforts of the astronomers to appoint them as provincial governors of the provinces near to Seoul. The third paragraph states that King Sejong sent them to Ming China to get information on the calendar-making methods and astronomical instruments. The fourth paragraph describes a fact that astronomers were dispatched to the southern and northern ends of the territory to observe the star Canopus. However, our analyses demonstrate that these paragraphs do not agree with historical facts when being compared with authentic historical sources such as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. Hence, we conclude that it may be improper to adopt these statements as historical facts, so that we propose to verify previous historical descriptions made by adopting the statements.

The Korean History of Science Society (KHSS), founded in 1960, celebrates the 60th anniversary in 2020. During the past 60 years, the history of science in premodern Korea has achieved great success in various fields. Now it is the time to ponder on the future of the field on the basis of the previous accomplishments. This paper discusses the problems and issues that should be considered in the future study of the history of science in premodern Korea.
First task is to establish a system of disciplines in the history of science of Premodern Korea. To achieve this, each scholar in the fields, such as the history of astronomy and calendrical science, the history of mathematics, the history of geography, and the history of medicine, are required to consider the ways of diachronic organization consistent to one's own thesis.
Secondly, regarding the “China Problem,” it is urgent to analyze the recent trends and works in the history of science in China. A close academic review is especially necessary for A History of Science and Technology in China, which was directed and compiled by the Institute for the History of Natural Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Thirdly, the environmental aspects of human living, including natural disasters and diseases, need more attention for expanding the areas of research. The study of environmental history has grown quantitatively since the late 1990s. The interactions between human history and the environments and people's thoughts and actions on environments should be incorporated into the research of the history of science.
The fourth issue is related to survey of the cultural heritages related to science and technology. The KHSS has carried out some projects since the early 1980s and seen remarkable achievements: enhancement of public understanding of the cultural heritages of science and increase in research and restoration works. Now the KHSS needs to pursue critical reevaluations of the previous achievements, as well as the further application of scientific heritage for research and education.
Lastly, the systematic assessments of the primary sources of the history of science in premodern Korea is essential. It is required to collect, organize, and annotate, as well as to question the problems of translation of, the bibliographic sources such as historical books, the books on science, and Han-yi-xi-xue-shu(漢譯西學書, the different kinds of books which were written in Chinese characters about western books of Catholicism, science and technology).

This paper reviews the achievements of Korea's modern and contemporary history of science research and presents some tasks to be solved. First, the English abstracts of 106 modern and contemporary papers published in The Korean Journal for the History of Science are categorized into five topics through text mining. It also examines the central themes of the literatures in five periods: the late 19th century, the Japanese colonial era, liberation to the 1950s, the 1960s to the 1970s, after the 1980s, and North Korea's science and technology. In particular, it introduces recently published articles and books. We argue that an understanding of the times should be fully reflected upon, and that comparative studies are necessary to overcome a mononational perspective. Furthermore, we propose expanding the scope of research by increasing contacts with adjacent areas and introducing quantitative methodologies that can handle vast amounts of data. In addition, while studies so far have focused on the formation and identity of 'Korean science', future research should clarify the 'scientific Korea' created by such science.

This article surveys some of the key works in the history of western science in South Korea, mainly focusing on the articles and reviews published in The Korean Journal for the History of Science. It intends to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Society for the History of Science in 1960, to reflect on some of the shifting scholarly trends featured in The Korean Journal for the History of Science, and to discuss a few fruitful scholarly avenues for historians of western science in South Korea. Written from a perspective of a Korean historian of 'western' science, it further considers some of the meaningful engagements with a wider community of science studies scholars in South Korea and beyond.