The traditional way of calculating age was canceled in the country.
South Korea passed the waiver law on December 8 from the traditional method of calculating age and switching to the international standard from June 2023, as a result of which citizens of the country will become 1 or 2 years younger in official documents, reports Reuters< /span>.
According to the traditional method, Koreans “filled up the year” when they were born, and each January 1st added the next year. This age is most often used in everyday life.
There is a separate system where a person's age is counted for enlistment in the army or permission to drink alcohol and smoke from zero at birth, and a year is added on January 1.
Since the early 1960s, South Korea has also used the international norm for medical and legal documents, whereby age is calculated from zero at birth and a year is added for each birthday.
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< span style="font-weight: 400;">“The revision is aimed at reducing unnecessary socio-economic costs, as legal and social disputes and confusion persist due to different ways of calculating age,” said a representative of the ruling People's Power Party, Yu, in parliament. Sang-bum.
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Jung Da-in, a 29-year-old office worker, is happy for the change because she always had to wonder when abroad, she was asked about her age: “I remember how foreigners looked at me with surprise because I needed so much time to answer how old I am”.
