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North Korea has announced that is introducing its own standard time zone thirty minutes later than the current east longitude-based one, as of Liberation Day this year.

Standard time refers to the selection of a particular location according to national standards, with noon designated as the time when the sun is at its farthest south (culmination) from that point. North Korea’s new standard time sets it standard location at 127.5°E, resulting in a thirty-minute difference from South Korea and Japan, where the location is at 135°E.

If North Korea does go ahead with the shift to 127.5°E, the move would require adjustments to financial and trade systems with significant social costs. The difference from other countries, which typically distinguish time zones on an hourly basis, is also expected to cause some confusion.

The North’s Korean Central News Agency said the change was introduced as a way of addressing a lingering vestige of Japan’s colonial presence.

“We had our standard time taken away from us by the Japanese imperialists,” the report said.

Korea did introduce 127.5°E as a standard meridian in the past with the Korean Empire Prime Meridian of 1908, but replaced it with the Japanese standard of 135°E following its forced annexation by Japan. The 127.5°E meridian was restored in the post-liberation year of 1954 by presidential decree, but was once again replaced by 135°E in 1961 out of concerns about potential problems from time differences in military operations by the US - which has troops in both South Korea and Japan -- in the event of another war on the Korean Peninsula.

China currently uses 120°E as its meridian, resulting in a one-hour time difference from South Korea and Japan, which both use 135°E.

By Jung Yu-gyung, staff reporter

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