Time in North Korea — regions, cities and time zones

Current time in Pyongyang

North Korea uses a single time zone, Pyongyang Time, at UTC+09:00. Daylight saving is not observed, so the offset is constant all year. The whole country, from Sinuiju to Rason, keeps the capital's clock.

The country that moved its clock twice

North Korea is unusual among the world's timekeepers because its offset has changed within living memory — not for daylight saving, but as a deliberate national decision. In 2015 the country adopted an offset thirty minutes behind its neighbours, creating a half-hour gap with South Korea. In 2018 it reversed that decision and returned to UTC+09:00, putting the two Koreas back on the same clock.

The practical effect today is straightforward: Pyongyang and Seoul show the same hour and minute. Anyone working with older software, archived timestamps or documents from that three-year window should be aware the offset in force at the time was different from the one in force now.

Most countries change their clocks for the sun. North Korea has changed its clock for reasons that had nothing to do with the sun at all — twice.

Time zone facts

Standard time: Pyongyang Time, UTC+09:00 Daylight saving: not observed IANA zone identifier: Asia/Pyongyang Capital: Pyongyang, on the Taedong River Shared offset with: South Korea and Japan

Provinces and cities on one clock

North Korea is divided into provinces and a small number of specially administered cities, all of them on the same time. The main divisions include North and South Pyongan, North and South Hamgyong, North and South Hwanghae, Chagang, Ryanggang and Kangwon, alongside the capital city of Pyongyang itself and cities such as Kaesong, Nampo and Rason with their own status.

Geographically the country spans roughly three degrees of longitude east to west — not enough to justify a second zone even in principle. The real variation is north to south: Rason in the far north-east and Kaesong near the southern border differ noticeably in sunrise and sunset, particularly in winter, even though their clocks read identically.

Comparing with the neighbours

Because the region is dense with a single shared offset, comparisons are unusually simple: South Korea, at UTC+09:00 with no daylight saving, matches North Korea exactly. Japan, also UTC+09:00 with no daylight saving, matches as well.

China, at UTC+08:00 nationwide, is one hour behind — relevant for the long land border and the Yalu River crossings. Russia's Vladivostok region, at UTC+10:00, is one hour ahead across the short north-eastern border.

This makes North Korea one of the few places where you can be an hour behind on one border and an hour ahead on another, without any of the countries involved shifting their clocks seasonally.

Why no daylight saving

North Korea has not adopted summer time. Neither have South Korea or Japan in current practice, so the entire north-east Asian block holds a fixed offset year-round. For anyone scheduling internationally, this is a relief: the difference to Pyongyang from any European or American city changes only because that other city moves its own clocks, never because Pyongyang moves its own.