Two Koreas to begin and end Panmunjom hotline simultaneously following Pyongyang's time change
- 6 years ago
North Korea decided to set its clock 30 minutes behind the South in 2015.
Over the weekend, their time zone was changed back, allowing the two sides to make their daily calls on the hotline at Panmunjom... without confusion.
According to Seoul's unification ministry, the North Korean side called at 9:03 am today.
In the past three years the North was not taking the daily phone call at 9, and they could only make contact after 9:30.
They also have a regular call scheduled at 4 p.m. to mark the end of the day.
The decision to have the same timezone was made by the regime's leader during last month's inter-Korean summit.
With that change, what some would call an "abnormal" operation of the hotline has come to an end.
Over the weekend, their time zone was changed back, allowing the two sides to make their daily calls on the hotline at Panmunjom... without confusion.
According to Seoul's unification ministry, the North Korean side called at 9:03 am today.
In the past three years the North was not taking the daily phone call at 9, and they could only make contact after 9:30.
They also have a regular call scheduled at 4 p.m. to mark the end of the day.
The decision to have the same timezone was made by the regime's leader during last month's inter-Korean summit.
With that change, what some would call an "abnormal" operation of the hotline has come to an end.