Why all South Koreans are about to become one year younger

South Koreans will become a year or two younger after the country passed laws to scrap its traditional method for counting ages.

Koreans are deemed to be a year old when born and a year is added every January 1. This is the age most commonly cited in everyday life.

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 January 1.

For medical and legal documents, however, since the early 1960s South Korea has also used the international norm of calculating from zero at birth and adding a year on every birthday.

The confusing array of systems will disappear - at least on official documents - when the new laws that stipulate using only the international method of counting ages take effect in June 2023.

"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.

Jeong Da-eun, a 29-year-old office worker, was 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.

An age-old problem

Standardising the way ages are counted was a priority for South Korea’s president Yoon Suk-yeol.

The traditional method of determining age was used in a number of east Asian nations in the past, including China and Japan, and is believed to stem from the concept that time inside the mother’s womb counts as the first year of a child’s life.

The new government decided to act as a result of problems linked to eligibility for the Covid vaccine and a requirement that people show a certificate of vaccination to access public spaces, such as libraries.

A small number of people were not able to get a booster shot because they were ineligible according to their international age, but were required to show evidence of inoculation according to their “Korean age”.

The parallel ways of counting age was a problem even before the pandemic. It has proven contentious when men are called up for mandatory military service.

Previous attempt fraught with difficulty

The South Korean government previously tried to standardise the way in which age is counted in 1962 but the amendments were fraught with legal difficulty and the majority of people stuck with the traditional system. Sixty years later, however, with more Koreans travelling overseas, the question of age on a person’s passport is also becoming an issue.

A survey by Hankook Research in December determined that 82 per cent of Koreans use the traditional system of determining age when asked how old they are, but 71 per cent said it was time to stop using “Korean age” and switch solely to the international age system.

The new government agrees. Lee Yong-ho, a politician of the People Power Party overseeing legal and public services, said, “If we stick solely to the international age system, we will no longer see the social and economic costs associated with all the confusion and inconvenience arising from the age difference”.

It is likely that standardising ages will require South Koreans to update their documentation including passports, driving licenses and medical records.