From 2023, South Koreans will become younger as govt. scraps traditional way of counting age

The South Korean government passed measures on Thursday that replace the Korean age system with the global norm.

The Koreans will be at least one or two years younger as of the following year since they will need to factor in their birth dates when determining their ages. Beginning in June 2023, the age will be determined using a global standard.

South Koreans currently employ the Korean age system, which adds one year to a baby’s age after birth. As a result, on January 1st, a year is added to the age of a Korean, who is considered to be a year old at birth. They frequently mention the baby’s nine months in the mother’s womb.

The legal drinking and smoking ages are determined using the dual age approach.

However, South Korea has used the worldwide standard of calculating from zero at birth and adding a year on every birthday for medical and legal papers since the early 1960s.

Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling People Power Party told parliament, according to Reuters news agency: “The modification is intended to reduce unnecessary socio-economic expenditures because legal and societal disputes, as well as uncertainty, exist due to the diverse approaches to determining age.”

The Basic Administrative Act and the Civil Act were both partially amended by bills that the National Assembly enacted on Thursday.

The Ministry of Governmental Legislation conducted a poll on standardising the age-counting system before deciding to pursue the revisions. Eight out of ten respondents to the study (81.6%) agreed that the system should be harmonised.

Additionally, after the law is put into effect, 86.2% of the populace claimed they will use their birthdate in their day-to-day activities.