Photo :webshot. 

December 10, 2022

Anna Murray 

Following a formal change to the nation's age-counting system, South Koreans will soon be one or two years younger. The National Assembly, the country's parliament, enacted a package of measures on December 8 mandating the application of the age-counting system used internationally, which bases age on birthdate.

The two conventional age-counting systems in Korea will be abolished under the new bill passed by the South Korean parliament. The so-called "Korean Age" system will no longer be accepted on official documents as of June 2023. The "international age" must be used properly in all official documents.

According to the "Korean age" system, newborns are regarded as one year old on the day of their birth, and another year is added on January 1. In some situations, South Koreans also use what is known as "calendar age," which is a hybrid of international and Korean ages that counts babies as being born at zero years old and adds a year to their age on January 1.

According to Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling People Power Party, the change is intended to reduce unnecessary socio-economic expenditures because legal and social disputes as well as uncertainty occur as a result of the various methods of measuring age.