N Korea winds back its clocks to make 'Pyongyang time'

[Ken Burch]

Source: MSN News

North Korea has announced that it is winding its clocks back by 30 minutes to create a new "Pyongyang Time" - breaking from a time standard imposed by what it called "wicked 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 and announced on Friday, would come into effect from August 15, which this year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean peninsula's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

"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.

Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/n-korea-winds-back-its-clocks-to-make-pyongyang-time/ar-BBltmqg?ocid=ansJazeera11

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I could see moving it forward by 30 minutes...but back?

(At least they didn't call it "Great Successor Standard Time".)

[jberryhill]

1. Well, that'll probably cause issues with whatever version of Windows they are running

[roamer65]

12. I wonder how many in the picture around Kim Jong Crazy Jr are now dead. N/t

[hughee99]

21. 3.11 "windows for workgroups". n/t

[kairos12]

2. The Reich Wing Debate last night set back calendars to the Middle Ages. Just saying. Call it

the Age of Unenlightenment.

[Archae]

3. I read somewhere they have their own calendar.

Begins with Kim Il-Sung's date of birth. (I think it's Kim Il Sung...)

Who was that former Soviet Union country's dictator, that even changed the names of the days and months on the calendar?

[derby378]

4. I know the French tried that once, but the Soviets?

I'd like to know more.

[Archae]

8. Not the Soviets...

This is one of those breakaway countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union.

Ugsbekistan or something.

[killbotfactory]

18. Turkmenistan

And it was this guy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov

[derby378]

24. Oh yeah, THAT guy! I've got his holy book!

In fact, Niyazov ordered this monument to be built for it. You might have seen it on The Daily Show.

[C Moon]

5. "That it won't be long before it's Pyongyang time."

[jtuck004]

6. Livin' on Pyongyang Time...Need some updated Don Williams. n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Maybe they should move it back 50 years and 30 minutes. nt

[awoke_in_2003]

9. Livin' on Pyongyang time

livin' on Pyongyang time
Well, you know I've been through it
When I set my watch back to it
Livin' on Pyongyang time

[davidpdx]

10. Kim Jong Um Standard Time

[jberryhill]

13. Standard? No. Crazy, perhaps. Not Sexy either

[roamer65]

11. Most North Koreans can't even afford a clock or watch, so it won't matter to them.

Time is insignificant when you daily worry is finding enough food.

[jberryhill]

15. Did you know the clock was invented by Kim Il Sung?

[MrModerate]

14. How many North Koreans can afford clocks?

It's not as if you can eat them.

[Little Tich]

16. This is one more case where they are behind South Korea. How ironic... n/t

[valerief]

17. Our GOP Congress wants to move us back 50 years. nt

[jmowreader]

19. Pyongyang is west of Seoul, so back is the correct direction

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. 30 minutes back does put 12pm as the point when the sun is highest

so this is actually the logical time zone to pick if you want to centre it on that country.

http://www.mapsofworld.com/lat_long/north-korea-lat-long.html

It's 15 degrees for each hour, so GMT+8:30 is centered at 15*8.5=127.5 degrees east - pretty much the centre of the country. If you're OK with a half hour time difference (and India manages, at GMT+5:30), then this is the logical one to pick. Going forward by 30 minutes would have been truly contrary.

[daleo]

22. Newfoundland in Canada does this too

Go ahead and mock them too, if you want to be consistent.

[tabasco]

23. Gangnam style and now Pyongyang time

Gotta be a rap song there somewhere.