Time in North Korea

Short description: Time zone in Asia

Pyongyang Time

Time zone

Map of East Asia with timezones

UTC offset
PYT| UTC+9:00
Current time
16:31, 24 May 2026 UTC+09:00 [refresh]
Central meridian
Date-time group

Time in North Korea, called Pyongyang Time[1] (Korean: 평양시간; Hanja: 平壤時間 or PYT) or Standard Time of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (조선민주주의인민공화국 표준시간; 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國標準時間), is since May 2018 equal to Korea Standard Time: 9 hours ahead of UTC (00). Like South Korea , North Korea does not currently observe daylight saving time.[2] Time keeping in North Korea is under the State Commission for Science and Technology.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 IANA time zone database
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## History

Before modern clocks were introduced into Korea, Koreans kept time with the help of a sundial during the daytime and a water clock at night. In 1434, Jang Yeong-sil, a Joseon scientist and astronomer with other scientists, developed Korea's first sundial, Angbu Ilgu (앙부일구; 仰釜日晷) and was put into service as standard time-keeper of the kingdom and began the standard time at Hanyang (Seoul) which was calculated to be UTC+08:27:52.[3] In 1442, Chiljeongsan, an astronomical calendar system that was created during the reign of King Sejong used Hanyang (Seoul) local time as its standard as it overcame the limitations of previous-made calendars.[4] The Korean Empire adopted a standard time of 8½ hours ahead of UTC (30), which is similar to Pyongyang Standard Time, around the beginning of the 20th century. Some sources claim 1908,[5] others claim 1912[6] and yet another claims that mean local standard time was used prior to 1908 and that 30 was used from 1 April 1908 to 31 December 1911 and again from 21 March 1954 to 9 August 1961.[7] In 1912, the Governor-General of Korea changed the time zone to 00 to align with Japan Standard Time.

On 5 August 2015, the North Korean government decided to return to 30, effective 15 August 2015, and said the official name would be Pyongyang Time or (PYT).[8][9] The government of North Korea made this decision as a break from "imperialism"; the time zone change went into effect on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Korea.[10] The South Korean government officials worried about inconvenience in Inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, including commuting to and from the Kaesong Industrial Region, and further difference of lifestyle between the North and South Korean people.[9]

On 29 April 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced his country would be returning to 00 to realign its clocks with South Korea. On 30 April 2018, the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea issued a decree about changing the time zone in North Korea as a further step in unifying Korea and eliminating differences between the South and North.[11][12][13] The time zone change was applied at 23:30 on 4 May 2018 (30).[14][15]

## IANA time zone database

The IANA time zone database contains one zone for North Korea in the file zone.tab, named Asia/Pyongyang.[16]

## See also

* Time in South Korea
* Time zone
* 30
* 00

## References

1. ↑ "Decree on Redesignating Pyongyang Time". 30 April 2018. http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/news/?19+8938.
2. ↑ "When is Daylight Saving Time Worldwide?". http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/g.html.
3. ↑ A Bridge between Conceptual Frameworks: Sciences, Society and Technology Studies edited by Raffaele Pisano
4. ↑ "Archived copy". http://jkas.kas.org/journals/2012v45n4/v45n4p085_kwlee.pdf.
5. ↑ Munroe, Tony; Kim, Jack (6 August 2015). "Turning back the clock: North Korea creates Pyongyang Standard Time". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-time-idUSKCN0QC04P20150807.
6. ↑ Ts'ai, Hui-yu Caroline (2009). Taiwan in Japan's Empire-Building: An Institutional Approach to Colonial Engineering. Routledge. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-203-88875-9. OCLC 227205710. https://books.google.com/books?id=X0yruIa2hVwC&pg=PA97. "After Japan took over Taiwan in 1895, the new empire was divided into two standard time zones: central and western; .... In 1912, Korea adopted the central time zone as a result of its merger with Japan in 1910."
7. ↑ Dershowitz, Nachum; Reingold, Edward M. (2008). "17.10 The Korean Calendar". Calendrical Calculations (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-521-88540-9. OCLC 144768713. "Prior to April 1, 1908 local mean time was used; for some intervals since then, 8.5 hours after U.T. was used as the time zone (from 1 April 1908 to 31 December 1911 and from 21 March 1954 until 9 August 1961)."
8. ↑ "North Korea to introduce new timezone[sic this month"]. BNO News. 7 August 2015. http://bnonews.com/news/index.php/news/1181.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "North Korea's new time zone to break from "imperialism"". BBC News. 7 August 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33815049.
10. ↑ Mathis-Lilley, Ben (7 August 2015). "North Korea Invents New Time Zone, 'Pyongyang Time'". Slate. http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/07/north_korea_invents_own_time_zone_xenophobia_against_japan_is_involved.html.
11. ↑ Westcott, Ben; Yoonjung, Seo; Jeong, Sophie; Watkins, Eli (29 April 2018). "North Korea will close main nuclear test site in May, South says". CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/28/asia/north-korea-nuclear-site-time-zone-intl/index.html.
12. ↑ "혼란 주던 '30분 시차' 사라진다…서울 표준시로 "통일"" (in ko). 29 April 2018. http://news.jtbc.joins.com/article/article.aspx?news_id=NB11626847.
13. ↑ "N Korea to adjust time zone to match the South". RTHK. Agence France-Presse. 30 April 2018. http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1393852-20180430.htm.
14. ↑ "North Korea changes its time zone" (in en-GB). BBC News. 5 May 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44010705.
15. ↑ "Time for change: North Korea moves clocks forward to keep up with South". The Guardian. Associated Press. 5 May 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/05/time-for-change-north-korea-moves-clocks-forward-to-match-south.
16. ↑ "IANA - Time Zone Database". IANA. https://www.iana.org/time-zones.

## External links

* North Korea at Time and date
* Asia/Pyongyang at Travelmath
* Asia/Pyongyang at TWiki

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