North Korea creates new time zone

North Korea is to switch to a new time zone to mark its emancipation from the Japanese at the end of World War Two, state media report.

North Korea is currently in the same time zone as South Korea and Japan, which are nine hours ahead of GMT, the BBC adds, however, Pyongyang Time will see the clocks put back by 30 minutes on 15th August.

Local news agencies say "wicked Japanese imperialists" had "deprived Korea of even its standard time" by changing the clocks during occupation. The entire Korean peninsula, then still one country, was 8.5 hours ahead of GMT until Japan colonised it in 1910.

Officials said that the decision to adopt Pyongyang Time reflected "the unshakeable faith and will of the service personnel and people on the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation".

South Korea said the move could cause some short-term inconvenience at the Kaesong industrial plant in North Korea, jointly run by the two states.

"And in the longer term, there may be some fallout for efforts to unify standards and reduce differences between the two sides," Unification Ministry official Jeong Joon-Hee said.

The BBC added that there is no international body that approves a country's change of time zone as countries decide for themselves.

In 2011, for instance, Samoa changed its time zone to the other side of the international dateline, losing one day, to make communication easier with neighbours Australia and New Zealand.

North Korea is not the only country that has created its own unique time zone, and in 2007, Venezuela decided to turn its clocks back by half an hour as President Hugo Chavez wanted to have a  “ fairer distribution of sunrise” to residents. Venezuela is now the only country with a time zone 4.5 hours behind GMT.