By Enyichukwu Enemanna
South Korea on Thursday passed laws to abolish its traditional age counting methods which automatically adds a year to babies upon their birth and a year to all citizens on Jan. 1 every year.
This is the age most commonly cited in everyday life in the country.
It has however been put aside as the country adopts the international standard, making citizens either 1 or 2 years younger on official documents.
A separate system also exists for conscription purposes or calculating the legal age to drink alcohol and smoke, in which a person’s age is calculated from zero at birth and a year is added on Jan. 1.
Since the early 1960s, however, South Korea has for medical and legal documents also used the international method of calculating from zero at birth and adding a year on every birthday.
The new laws which stipulate using only the international method of counting ages is expected to take effect in June 2023, ending confusing array of systems
“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.
Reuters reports that Jeong Da-eun, a 29-year-old office worker, 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.
