If you’re sitting in Seoul and you look across the DMZ, the sun is hitting the mountains at the exact same angle. But for a few years, if you’d asked a soldier on the North side what time it was, his watch would have been thirty minutes behind yours. It sounds like a minor detail, right? A quirk of geography. But in the DPRK, time isn't just about physics or keeping appointments. It’s a political weapon.
Time in North Korea now is officially synchronized with South Korea and Japan. Specifically, they are at UTC+9. No daylight saving time. No springing forward or falling back. It’s a steady, year-round rhythm that currently puts Pyongyang 14 hours ahead of New York and 9 hours ahead of London.
But the road to this "normal" time zone was anything but straight.
The Half-Hour Rebellion
Back in 2015, Kim Jong Un decided that North Korea shouldn't share a clock with its former colonizer, Japan. He introduced "Pyongyang Time." Basically, he moved the entire country’s clocks back 30 minutes to UTC+8:30.
The reasoning was purely nationalistic. The Japanese Empire had moved the Korean peninsula’s time to match Tokyo back in 1912. To the North Korean leadership, sharing a time zone with Tokyo was a "lingering vestige" of imperial rule. So, they just... changed it.
Imagine the logistical nightmare.
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Train schedules. Border crossings. Radio broadcasts. Everything had to be recalibrated because of a 30-minute grudge. It made North Korea one of the few places in the world, alongside Nepal and parts of Australia, to use a non-standard hourly offset. Honestly, it was a bold flex of sovereignty that left international travelers and even some South Korean businessmen at the Kaesong Industrial Complex scratching their heads.
Why They Switched Back
You might remember the 2018 summits. There was this famous photo of two clocks hanging on a wall in the Peace House at Panmunjom—one labeled "Seoul" and the other "Pyongyang."
Kim Jong Un reportedly found it "painful" to see the two clocks showing different times. He called it a "wrenching" sight. Shortly after, as a gesture of "national reconciliation," North Korea moved their clocks forward again. On May 5, 2018, they rejoined the rest of the peninsula at UTC+9.
It was a rare moment of synchronization.
Living Without Daylight Saving
One thing that catches people off guard is that North Korea doesn't do daylight saving time. Ever. While the U.S. and Europe are busy arguing about whether "falling back" is bad for mental health, Pyongyang stays the course.
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This means the time gap between North Korea and Western cities actually fluctuates twice a year, even though North Korea’s clock never moves.
- Winter: Pyongyang is 14 hours ahead of New York.
- Summer: Pyongyang is 13 hours ahead of New York (because the U.S. moves its clocks).
It’s consistent, but it can be confusing if you’re trying to track news cycles or military parades from the outside.
The Juche Calendar: What Year Is It Really?
If you walk into a shop in Pyongyang, the time on the wall might say 3:00 PM, but the date on the newspaper might say Juche 115.
This is where things get really weird.
While the North uses the Gregorian calendar for international business, they primarily use the Juche calendar internally. It starts with the birth of Kim Il Sung in 1912. So, according to their official record, the world didn't really start until their founding father arrived.
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To find the Juche year, you just subtract 1911 from the current year.
2026 - 1911 = Juche 115.
Practical Realities for Travelers
If you’re one of the few people entering the country via the train from Dandong, China, you’re in for a bit of a jump. China is at UTC+8. When you cross the Yalu River into Sinuiju, you’re effectively jumping forward one hour.
Most travelers say the most jarring thing isn't the hour change, though. It’s the silence. At night, in many parts of the country outside of Pyongyang, the lack of electricity means "time" feels different. When the lights go out, the day is over. Period.
Quick Facts for Your Watch
- Current Offset: UTC+9 (Korea Standard Time).
- Daylight Saving: None.
- Year: 2026 (or Juche 115).
- Capital: Pyongyang.
How to Stay Accurate
If you are tracking events in the DPRK, don't rely on your phone's "automatic" time zone setting if you are near the border. Signals can get messy. Use a dedicated world clock set to "Pyongyang" or "Seoul" specifically.
Since there are no more planned shifts back to the 30-minute offset—despite the recent cooling of North-South relations—you can safely assume they’ll stay at UTC+9 for the foreseeable future.
To keep your schedules straight, always verify if your own country has recently switched to or from Daylight Saving Time, as that is the only variable that will change your time difference with North Korea. Check your local time against UTC and then add 9 hours to find the exact moment in Pyongyang.