SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has no time for Japan. Not anymore, at least.

The country will establish its own time zone next week by pulling back by 30 minutes its current standard time, a legacy of the Japanese colonial rule.

The new time zone will take effect Aug. 15 — the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule at the end of World War II, North Korea’s official Central News Agency said today. The establishment of “Pyongyang time” will root out that legacy, it said.

Local time in North and South Korea and Japan is the same, nine hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. It was set during Japan’s rule over what was single Korea from 1910 to 1945.

The change seems aimed at boosting the leadership of Kim Jong Un with anti-Japan, nationalistic sentiments, said a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.