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North Korea Is Switching To a New Time Zone

jones_supa writes: North Korea has announced that it is winding its clocks back by half a hour to create a new "Pyongyang Time" — breaking from a time standard imposed by what it called "wicked Japanese imperialists" more than a century ago. The change will put the standard time in North Korea at UTC +8:30. North Korea said that the time change, approved on Wednesday by its rubber-stamp parliament and officially announced on Friday, would come into effect from August 15, which this year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean peninsula's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

11 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. And by Gription · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No one cares

  2. be glad it's only a symbolic gesture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Koreans, even North Koreans, have very legitimate historical reasons to tell Japan to FUCK OFF.

    1. Re:be glad it's only a symbolic gesture by bobbied · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Koreans, even North Koreans, have very legitimate historical reasons to tell Japan to FUCK OFF.

      That is true, but how does THIS have anything to do with what Japan did to them before WW2? How's it harm Japan if NK want's to change their wristwatches? Yea, I'm sure that has half of Tokyo shaking in their boots....

      This is not much more than symbolic, but NK has been reduced to making symbolic gestures for decades. (Hey, isn't that little'Un with is middle finger in the air again?) I'm laughing over here in North America, and I'm sure about all that's shaking in Japan is heads..

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  3. Why can't the world move beyond this crap? by undefinedreference · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Time zones are the dumbest thing ever devised and should be abolished. Anyone that has ever had to deal with them extensively would agree. They are a deeply brain-damaged concept. Something critical like time should not be subject to the machinations of politics.

    1. Re:Why can't the world move beyond this crap? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Second dumbest thing. Don't forget daylight savings.

    2. Re:Why can't the world move beyond this crap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Um, timezones are needed, but summer/winter time changes are not.

    3. Re:Why can't the world move beyond this crap? by netsavior · · Score: 4, Insightful

      it would take about a week for us to get used to UTC, which would be a great time to get rid of AM and PM while we are at it. So, lunch is at 1700 and sunrise is at 1200, who cares?

    4. Re:Why can't the world move beyond this crap? by PraiseBob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So if he wants to call a company in Germany, and wonder if it is the middle of the night for them, he would simply have to figure out the sunrise and sunset times in UTC for a geographic region, and then estimate normal business hours?

      Thats sounds much more complicated than looking up a time zone, and comparing apples to apples.

  4. Re:not the only coutry by shadowrat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ha! You just cleared up one of the great mysteries of my life! I remember sitting in paris watching the Eiffel tower begin twinkling at dusk. It was some ungodly late hour and I thought, "Man, how can it still be so light out? Paris must be way farther north than i originally thought."

    mystery solved.

  5. Re:Only half an hour by magarity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The current assclown isn't going to change jack and/or squat.

    He just changed the time zone, so there!

  6. Re:You go little Un... by bobbied · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yea, just don't try to connect up to a NTP server or build a strat 1 server from a GPS receiver when you fudge the hardware clock... You are going to be on your own. And that's going to make things like navigation and advancing technology all that much harder there.

    Little'Un just made life harder for his people by doing this, but he doesn't care. Folks have to remember ONE very important fact. Little'Un does what he does for consumption INSIDE of North Korea and that's it. The world will deride him for doing stupid things, but what matters is how the North Korean's perceive it. You can bet they all praise "Dear Leader" for his strong defiance of the Imperialist Japan and most will actually believe what they are saying. Few will realize that he's really showing his impotence, his lack of power and how the rest of the world is making fun of him and the ones that DO realize this won't say anything different because they know it means death for them and their extended families.

    So while we laugh because we find it funny, in reality this is really very sad for the people it most concerns..

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101