Sunch’ŏn, North Korea · UTC+9
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Sunch’ŏn is an industrial city in South Pyongan Province of North Korea, known for its chemical fertilizer and vinalon fiber industries. The city keeps Pyongyang Time (UTC+9), matching South Korea and Japan across the border.
North Korea’s timezone history is politically charged. In 2015, the country announced it was creating “Pyongyang Time” at UTC+8:30, advancing its clocks by 30 minutes to distinguish itself from Japan, which had imposed UTC+9 during its colonial rule of Korea. The announcement was framed as a liberation from Japanese temporal imperialism.
Then in 2018, ahead of the inter-Korean summit between Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North Korea announced it would return to UTC+9 to synchronize with the South. The clock moved back 30 minutes as a symbolic gesture of rapprochement. Sunch’ŏn and all of North Korea shifted simultaneously.
diplomatic theater and the clock
It is a rare example of a timezone being changed for explicitly diplomatic reasons. The 30 minutes existed briefly as an expression of political identity, then dissolved in a moment of diplomatic theater.
At 39 degrees north, Sunch’ŏn has real seasonal light variation: about 15 hours in June and about 9.5 hours in December.
9am in Sunch’ŏn is 12am in London in winter, 1am during British Summer Time.
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Read more about time in North Korea →Same time as Sunch’ŏn
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Questions about time in Sunch’ŏn
- What timezone is Sunch’ŏn in?
- Sunch’ŏn uses the IANA timezone
Asia/Pyongyang. The UTC offset is always UTC+9 — this timezone does not observe daylight saving time. - Does Sunch’ŏn observe daylight saving time?
- No. Sunch’ŏn does not observe daylight saving time. The UTC offset remains UTC+9 all year round.
- What is the current UTC offset for Sunch’ŏn?
- Sunch’ŏn is currently at UTC+9.
- What is the time difference between Sunch’ŏn and New York?
- Sunch’ŏn is currently 13 hours ahead of New York.
- What is the time difference between Sunch’ŏn and London?
- Sunch’ŏn is currently 8 hours ahead of London.
- What is the time difference between Sunch’ŏn and Los Angeles?
- Sunch’ŏn is currently 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
- What is the IANA timezone name for Sunch’ŏn?
- The IANA timezone database identifier for Sunch’ŏn is
Asia/Pyongyang. Use this string in programming languages and APIs: JavaScript (`new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: 'Asia/Pyongyang' })`), Python (`pytz.timezone('Asia/Pyongyang')`), or any IANA-compatible library.