North Korea establishes its own time zone
North Korean government on Friday announced it would pull back its current standard time by 30 minutes, establishing its own time zone.
The move reverses a decision made by occupying Japanese forces in 1912 of changing the country's time by putting its clock 30 minutes forward.
The wicked Japanese imperialists committed such unpardonable crimes as depriving Korea of even its standard time
"The wicked Japanese imperialists committed such unpardonable crimes as depriving Korea of even its standard time while mercilessly trampling down its land," the North's official KCNA news agency said.
KCNA said the parliamentary decree reflected "the unshakeable faith and will of the service personnel and people on the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation."
The new “Pyongyang time” will take effect from 15 August. North Korea will be eight and a half hours ahead of GMT compared to 9 hours in South Korea and Japan.
The new difference between North and South Korea's time standard made Seoul's Unification Ministry, which deals with cross-border affairs, point out that this could pose a number of challenges for the relations between the two nations, including for operations at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial complex that lies just inside North Korea.
"In the short term, there might be some inconvenience in entering and leaving Kaesong," ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee said.
"And in the longer term, there may be some fallout for efforts to unify standards and reduce differences between the two sides," he added.
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