North Korea will be turning their clocks back 30 minutes to make way for “Pyongyang Time”

Just when you thought there were 24 different time zones, all of it is about to change.

Get ready – as of August 15, North Korea will be introducing a new time zone to take note of. Calling it the “Pyongyang Time,” North Korea will be turning their clocks 30 minutes back to create their own standard time.

As a symbol of a release from Japanese imperialism from over a century ago, Kim Jong Un wanted to celebrate their freedom by breaking away from the same time zone as Japan.

Kim Jong Un picked this specific day since it marks the 70th anniversary of Korea’s freedom from Japan. Pre-colonial Korea had once ran at GMT+8:30 but was changed to match Japan in 1912.

Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee admitted that this time difference may continue to create differences between North and South Korea but he hopes in the long run there will be efforts to help unify the two.

Jeong says that he hopes that South Korea will follow along in their decision to create a sense of unity. Since this was their original time zone, North Korean leaders hope to recreate a pure Korea away from Japanese rule.

Source: South China Morning Post