Seoul: North Korea yesterday announced it was moving its clocks backwards 30 minutes to create a new &ldquo;Pyongyang Time&rdquo; &mdash; breaking from a time standard imposed by &ldquo;wicked&rdquo; Japanese imperialists more than a century ago.
The change will put the standard time in North Korea at GMT+8:30, 30 minutes behind South Korea which, like Japan, is at GMT+9:00.
North Korea said the time change, approved on Wednesday by its rubber-stamp parliament, would come into effect from August 15, which this year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean peninsula&rsquo;s liberation from Japan&rsquo;s 1910-45 colonial rule.
&ldquo;The wicked Japanese imperialists committed such unpardonable crimes as depriving Korea of even its standard time while mercilessly trampling down its land,&rdquo; the North Korea&rsquo;s official KCNA news agency said.
Standard time in pre-colonial Korea had run at GMT+8:30 but was changed to Japan standard time in 1912. KCNA said the parliamentary decree reflected &ldquo;the unshakeable faith and will of the service personnel and people on the 70th anniversary of Korea&rsquo;s liberation.&rdquo;
South Korea had similarly changed its standard time in 1954 &mdash; again to reflect the break from Japanese rule &mdash;but reverted to Japan standard time in 1961 after Park Chung-Hee came to power in a military coup.

The change will put standard time in North Korea at GMT+8:30, 30 mins behind South Korea which, like Japan, is at GMT+9:00

North Korea sets clocks back 30 minutes to create its own time zone

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Home / News / World News / Article / North Korea sets clocks back 30 minutes to create its own time zone

North Korea sets clocks back 30 minutes to create its own time zone

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