North Korea is frequently accused of turning back the clock on human rights, economic development, and diplomacy.
But on Friday, the impoverished and reclusive nation took the expression to a whole new level.
North Korea will adopt a new time zone — Pyongyang Time — to cast off the legacy of “wicked Japanese imperialists,” the country’s state newswire Korean Central News Agency reported. The new time zone will take effect Aug. 15 to mark the 70th anniversary of the country’s independence from Japanese rule at the end of World War II.
Since Japan colonized the country in 1910, its clocks have been set to 9 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the same as Japan and South Korea.