Anchor: North Korea will introduce what it calls "Pyongyang Standard Time," pushing back its time by half an hour beginning next Saturday upon the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation. The North claimed Japanese imperialists had stolen Korea’s standard time zone during its colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula. South Korea’s Unification Ministry expressed concern that the 30-minute time gap would cause issues in inter-Korean exchanges.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
 
Report: North Korea announced that it will set its standard time back by 30 minutes starting from the 70th Liberation Day on Saturday next week.
 
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said Friday that the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly decided to set 127 degrees 30 minutes east longitude as North Korea’s standard time zone. 
 
The news agency explained that the measure is to clear away the vestiges of Japanese imperialist's crime of depriving Koreans of their own standard time. The North added that the move is to safeguard the North’s sovereign rights.
 
The new time will be dubbed Pyongyang Standard Time. The North has so far set its standard time at 135 degrees east longitude, or nine hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
 
South Korea in 1954 reverted its standard time to UTC+8:30 as the Korean Empire initially adopted before the Japanese colonial government decided to align it with Japan Standard Time (JST). In 1961, Seoul reset Korea Standard Time at UTC+9:00.
 
In Seoul, Unification Ministry Spokesman Jeong Joon-hee expressed concerns about the North’s decision.
 
He said the 30-minute time difference between the two Koreas will affect inter-Korean transit activities in the short-run, and efforts to unite the two Koreas and restore homogeneity in the long-run.
 
Noting that Korea sits between China at 120 degrees and Japan at 135 degrees, the spokesman explained that Korea Standard Time at UTC+9:00 is in line with the international practice of choosing the meridian of an adjacent country located to the east. He also cited such practical aspects as day light saving in using UTC+9:00.
 
He said changing the standard time would incur some losses in opportunity cost in various areas, including finance and aviation.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.