North Korea to introduce own time zone in break from 'imperialist' past

North Korea has introduced its own time zone in what the dictator-led regime describes as a break from its "imperialist" past.

The new "Pyongyang time" will be half an hour later than the current one, which is shared with South Korea and Japan.

State news agency KCNA said the move would be introduced next Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea's "liberation" from Japanese rule.

Korea was split into two states followed the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan's subsequent surrender, with the Soviet Red Army marching into the capital on 15 August 1945.

North Korea has been described as a brutal dictatorial regime. Credit: Reuters

The peninsula had previously been 8.5 hours ahead of GMT until shortly after it was annexed in 1910, at which point it adopted the Japanese time zone of nine hours ahead.

The move is similar to that of former Venezualan President Hugo Chavez, who in 2007 changed the country's time zone to ensure "a more fair distribution of the sunrise".