Time in North Korea is given by Pyongyang Time (Chos?n'g?l: ????, Hancha: ???? or PYT) or Standard Time of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Chos?n'g?l: ??????????? ????, Hancha: ???????????????), which is 8 1/2 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+08:30) and has been the standard time zone in North Korea since 15 August 2015. When it is midnight (00:00) UTC, it is 8:30 a.m. (08:30) Pyongyang Time. Like South Korea, North Korea does not currently observe daylight saving time. Time keeping in North Korea is under the State Commission for Science and Technology.
Video Time in North Korea
History
Before modern clocks were introduced into Korea, Koreans kept time with the help of a sundial during the daylight time 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 (????/????) 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+08:28. 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. The Korean Empire adopted a standard time of 8 1/2 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+08:30), which is similar to Pyongyang Standard Time, around the beginning of the 20th century. Some sources claim 1908, others claim 1912 and yet another claims that mean local standard time was used prior to 1908 and that UTC+08:30 was used from 1 April 1908 to 31 December 1911 and again from 21 March 1954 to 9 August 1961. In 1912, the Governor-General of Korea changed the time zone to UTC+09:00 to align with Japan Standard Time.
On 5 August 2015, the North Korean government decided to return to UTC+08:30, effective 15 August 2015, and said the official name would be Pyongyang Time or (PYT). 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. 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.
Maps Time in North Korea
IANA time zone database
The IANA time zone database contains one zone for North Korea in the file zone.tab, named Asia/Pyongyang."IANA - Time Zone Database".
See also
- Time in South Korea
- List of Korea-related topics
- Timezone
- UTC+08:30
References
External links
- North Korea at Time and date
- Asia/Pyongyang at Travelmath
- Asia/Pyongyang at TWiki
Source of article : Wikipedia
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