North Korea shifts time zone to sync with South Korea 


North Korea is set to reunify its time zone with South Korea following last week's landmark summit.

Pyongyang time will be brought forward by half an hour on May 5 in order to align itself with Seoul time.

They will now both be nine hours ahead of GMT.

It follows Friday’s summit in which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to stop the ｃountry's nuclear programme.

In August 2015, Mr. Kim ordered that his ｃountry's time zone be pushed back by 30 minutes.

He claimed the move was to rid the ｃountry of the time zone handed to it during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

According to the Korean Central News Agency, Mr. Kim said the move was “the first practical step for national reconciliation and unity”.

North Korea isn't the first ｃountry to change its time zone.

In 2011, Samoa changed its time zone to 13 hours ahead of GMT in a bid to have better business connections with Australia and New Zealand.

Following the talks on Friday, the North Korean leader promised that his ｃountry would work towards “a nuclear-free Korean peninsula through complete denuclearisation.”

The two ｃountries also agreed to halt the broadcasting of propaganda messages through its loudspeakers and put a stop to confrontational border activities.
 

Under the deal, North and South Korea are set to have low grade military talks in May.

Mr. Kim is the first ever North Korean leader to step foot in the South since the end of the Korean War 65 years ago.

Dramatic photos showed the leader and Moon Jae-in crossing over onto the North Korean side of the border before stepping back into South Korea.

It's thought that US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un could meet within a matter of weeks.

Article Source: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/north-korea-shifts-time-zone-to-sync-with-south-korea-a3827351.html
Image Source: https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/04/27/08/kimjongun2704.jpg?w660

VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. Align (v.) ~ put (things) into correct or appropriate relative positions
2. Vow (v.) ~ a set of promises committing one to a prescribed role, calling, or course of action, typically to marriage or a monastic career
3. Rid (v.) ~ make someone or something free of (a troublesome or unwanted person or thing)
4. Halt (v.) ~ a suspension of movement or activity, typically a temporary one
5. Propaganda (v.) ~ information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view
6. Border (n.) ~ a line separating two political or geographical areas, especially ｃountries

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Why is the current time zone of North Korea vary from that of South Korea?
2. What does the syncing of time symbolize in terms of the relationship of the two Koreas?
3. Do you think that reunification is the best option for North Korea and South Korea to achieve peace? Explain your opinion.
4. Do you think peaceful co-existence is possible without reunification is possible for two ｃountries? Discuss your answer.