2023-06-28 19:20:00
Unlike most countries in the world, South Korea has an age-counting system that does not depend on a person’s birthday, but on the year they were born. Among the details of this system, every child is born at the age of one, and even if a child is born on December 31, he will be two years old the next day.
Now, the country has changed the legislation and has become the last of the East Asian countries to adopt the international standard – the change is already valid as of this Wednesday (28). The system had been adopted by Japan since 1950 and by North Korea since 1980.
The law had been approved in December and makes the system different from before not valid for official purposes. One of the main reasons for the change is in regarding government social security and social spending that, according to President Yoon Suk-yeol, was unnecessary. This would involve insurance programs and eligibility for assistance programs.
The traditional system continues to apply to rules such as buying cigarettes and alcoholic beverages — young people are already allowed to do this in the year they turn 19.
The change in legislation was approved by three-quarters of the population, according to a survey by the Hankook institute last year.
“There is an unconscious layer of ageism in people’s behavior. This is evident even in the complex age counting system. I hope that ending the Korean age system and adapting to the international counting system will help and get rid of old relics of the past,” 28-year-old content creator Jeongsuk Woo told the BBC.
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