All of those watch brands with worldtimers and satellite watches might have to go back to the drawing board or at least release new firmware update following news that North Korea has established its own timezone.
The North Korean state news agency KCNA announced that the isolated republic will set it clocks back by 30 minutes to eastablish Pyongyang time on August 15.
The timezone, GMT+8.30, is not new having existed before Japan’s colonisation of Korea and the timezone being established on the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan.
North Koreans also have an independent calendar, counting from the birth of founding leader Kim Il Sung in 1912, rather than the birth of Christ.
The timezone will put Pyongyang half an hour behind Tokyo and Seoul.
Neighbouring South Korea operated the same timezone between 1954 and 1961 and there have been proposals to reintroduce it as recently as 2013.
