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HomeCURRENT AFFAIRSSouth Korea passes laws to scrap traditional method of counting ages

South Korea passes laws to scrap traditional method of counting ages

On Thursday, South Korea passed laws to scrap its traditional method of counting ages and adopt the new one. As a result, its citizens will appear to be 1 or 2 years younger on official documents.

Koreans are considered to be a year old at birth, and a year is added on January 1 of each year. This is the age that is most frequently mentioned in daily life.

In a different approach, a person’s age is determined starting at zero at birth and an additional year is added on January 1 in order to determine their conscription eligibility or the legal drinking and smoking age.

However, South Korea has utilised the worldwide standard of starting the calculation at zero at birth and adding a year on each birthday for medical and legal papers since the early 1960s.

When the new regulations that mandate using only the worldwide method of counting ages come into effect in June 2023, the confusing variety of systems will vanish—at least on official documents.

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Revision is aimed at reducing unnecessary socio-economic costs

“The revision is aimed at reducing unnecessary socio-economic costs because legal and social disputes as well as confusion persist due to the different ways of calculating age,” Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling People Power Party told parliament.

A 29-year-old office worker, Jeong Da-eun, a 29-year-old is happy about the change, saying she has always had to think twice when asked overseas about her age.

“I remember foreigners looking at me with puzzlement because it took me so long to come back with an answer on how old I was.” “Who wouldn’t welcome getting a year or two younger?” she added.

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