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South Koreans to get younger on paper

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 9 Dec 2022 08:38
  • 1 Shares
2 Min Read

The current system, sometimes referred to as "the Korean age", counts each person as having lived for a year at birth and adds a year to their age on January 1st rather than on their actual birthday.

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  • Pedestrians cross a road in front of the Bank of Korea headquarters in Seoul, South Korea (AFP)
    Pedestrians cross a road in front of the Bank of Korea headquarters in Seoul, South Korea (AFP)

Where can you get a year or two cut off your age? South Korea recently enacted a set of measures to do away with its old method of determining ages.

The current system, sometimes referred to as "the Korean age," counts each person as having lived for a year at birth and adds a year to their age on January 1st rather than on their actual birthday.

However, the National Assembly of Seoul passed legislation on Thursday mandating the use of the global age-counting system for official papers. It will be in effect by June of next year.

In a statement, the National Assembly said that the decision was made to "resolve the social misunderstanding produced by the mixed use of age computations and the ensuing adverse consequences."

In addition to the Korean age system, the nation has another system that is primarily employed to establish the legal drinking and smoking age. This system counts a person's age from zero at birth and adds a year on January 1.

Additionally, it has been using the international standard since the 1960s for various medical and legal records.

A person born on December 31, 1992, for instance, would be considered to be 29 as of December 9, 2022, according to the international standard, 30 according to the South's way of determining the legal drinking age, and 31 according to the "Korean age" system.

President Yoon Suk-yeol has been advocating for the change while running for office, citing the administrative and societal costs associated with using numerous methods to determine people's ages.

It is worth noting that the news delighted several South Koreans.

"I'm getting two years younger -- I'm so happy," one wrote on Twitter.

  • the Korean age
  • South Korea
  • South Koreans
  • age

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