Pyongyang to set up its own time zone

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea said on Friday it will establish its own time zone next week by pushing back its current standard time by 30 minutes.

Local time in the DPRK and the Republic of Korea and Japan is the same - nine hours ahead of GMT. It was set during Japan's rule over what was a single Korea from 1910 to 1945.

The establishment of "Pyongyang time" is meant to root out the legacy of the Japanese colonial period, the DPRK's Korean Central News Agency said.