A Brief History
On August 15, 2015, North Korea changed its time to a self-appointed “Pyongyang Time,” moving clocks backward a half hour to flout international time, known as UTC.
Digging Deeper
Playing with time is not the only odd choice by North Korea, called “The Hermit Kingdom” for keeping its population out of contact with the rest of the world, in order to control information and thought.
Since its establishment in 1948, North Korea has been a dictatorship by a single family, first by Kim Il Sung, then his son, Kim Jong Il, and currently the next son in line, Kim Jong Un, in power since 2011.
North Korea is a bombastic and bellicose country that has developed nuclear weapons and is working on the means to deliver them. Their leaders have made ridiculous claims such as inventing the hamburger, the cures for AIDs and Ebola, and not having to go to the bathroom!
North Korea is also home to a genuine Unicorn lair!
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Martin, Bradley. Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2006.
Miller, Lindsey. North Korea: Like Nowhere Else: Two Years of Living in the World’s Most Secretive State. September Publishing, 2021.
The featured image in this article, a time zone map around Korean Peninsula, before DPRK’s standard time change, is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
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