Ever striving to create a world all its own, North Korea has announced that it will set back its clocks by 30 minutes to "Pyongyang time," effectively giving North Korea its own time zone.
The change will take place on the August 15, which happens to be the 70th anniversary of its liberation from Japan.
"The wicked Japanese imperialists committed such unpardonable crimes as depriving Korea of even its standard time while mercilessly trampling down its land with 5,000 year-long history and culture and pursuing the unheard-of policy of obliterating the Korean nation," stated the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's government-sponsored media outlet.
This isn't the first instance of North Korea attempting to separate itself from the rest of the world using time: the country already has its own calendar. Instead of counting years from the birth of Christ, the country counts from the birth of its founding leader, Kim Il-Sung, who was born in 1912 — or Juche 1, which would make this year Juche 104.
South Korea has also tinkered with its time zone. Between 1954 and 1961 – the new Pyongyang time – the country set its time zone at GMT+8:30. There have also been proposals to change it back to this time in the past few years, with the most recent push in 2013. This proposal was put forth by South Korean politician Cho Myung-chol, who called the bill a step toward South Korea sovereignty from Japanese imperialism. Experts however respond that the current time zone is based on practical considerations rather than colonial history.
Cho's original idea was for both North and South Korea to turn back their clocks, and he says he will renew his push for a change, given the fact that North Korea is already turning back its clocks.
Time is a very sensitive issue for Koreans in both the North and the South: many still harbor resentment toward Japan because of its occupation of Korea. During this time – officially 1910 to 1945 – thousands of Koreans were forced to fight as soldiers, work in labor camps and serve as "comfort women" or sex slaves.
North Korea joins a small group of countries that have their own time zones. Nepal is set at GMT+5.45, which is 15 minutes ahead of the would-be same zone in India, which borders Nepal on three sides.
John Pavelka | Flickr
Via: CNN
