F.U. of the Day: North Korea to Set Its Clocks Back Half an Hour to Annoy Japan

All right, stop. Pyongyang time.

The Associate Press is reporting that North Korea has decided to set up its own time zone. The official time, as announced by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), will be half an hour earlier than it currently is and it appears that the reason for this change is just to mess with Japan.

The new time zone will take effect Aug. 15 — the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese rule at the end of World War II, North Korea's official Central News Agency said Friday. The establishment of "Pyongyang time" will root out that legacy, it said.

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

"The wicked Japanese imperialists committed such unpardonable crimes as depriving Korea of even its standard time while mercilessly trampling down its land with 5,000-year-long history and culture and pursuing the unheard-of policy of obliterating the Korean nation," the KCNA dispatch said.

You can watch a video of the announcement on The Guardian's website.

North Korean officials named the new time "Pyongyang time" and probably has nothing to do with M.C. Hammer's catch phrase.



It was awfully nice of both North Korea and Russia to give us examples today of what weird countries they are.