Pyongyang Time, Standard Time of Korea

The Korean Peninsula lies between time zones 8 and 9 of the globe and so, the standard time of Korea is its local time which corresponds to 127° 30′ east longitude.

Accordingly the time had been used till the feudal Joson dynasty.

But immediately after occupying Korea the Japanese imperialists changed the standard time of Korea that had been established with 127° 30′ east longitude as its standard in accordance with the international usage to the standard time of Tokyo, Japan, with 135° east longitude as its standard.

The Japanese imperialists occupied the whole of Korea militarily in 1910.

After that they forced Korean to use the standard time of Japan from January 1, 1912 with a sinister design for exploiting and plundering Korea more easily according to their time and enslaving the Korean nation forever.

The standard time of Japan is a local time with 135° as its standard meridian in time zone 9 which is 30 minutes earlier than Korean time.

The Japanese imperialists’ policy for the elimination of the Korean nation was not limited to it.

They resorted to all maneuvers to destroy not only the Korean time, but the family name and given name of Koreans, their written and spoken language and customs and culture.

The harshest colonial rule of the Japanese imperialists left an incurable aftermath to the Korean people.

In order to liquidate the deep-rooted remnants of Japanese imperialism the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK issued a decree to regain the DPRK’s standard time with 127° 30′ east longitude as its standard, name it as “Pyongyang Time” and come into effect from 0:00 on August 15, Juche 104(2015), marking the 70^th anniversary of liberation of Korea and defeat of Japanese imperialism.

This measure is an exercise of legitimate rights of a sovereign state fully conforming to the international usage in the establishment of standard time.

The Korean people will demonstrate higher the dignity and might of a powerful nation according to Pyongyang Time, standard time of the DPRK.