SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday it will establish its own time zone next week by pulling back its current standard time by 30 minutes.
Local time in North and South Korea and Japan has been the same since Japan’s rule over what was single Korea from 1910 to 1945.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said that the establishment of “Pyongyang time” is aimed at rooting out the legacy of the Japanese colonial period.
It said the new time zone will take effect Aug. 15 — the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule at the end of World War II.