Just on Wednesday, Koreans became younger than their actual age. Wondering how? This is because laws in South Korea standardize how the government counts years.
While the whole world calculates the year almost the same, Korea has its own way of calculating the year. There are three common ways to calculate the year in Korea. However, the Korean government recently revised its civil law to recognize a unique way of counting years.
The three counting methods are:
It is the most famous method in the country. According to the Korean age method, a person is considered 1 year old at the time of birth. Every January 1, their year is added. This also applies to a person born on December 31, because that person will be considered 2 years old the next day. In this sense, the year of birth, not the date of birth, determines the age of an individual. In Korea, the Korean method of aging is recognized in social situations.
- Age calculation method is used around the world
This method is to calculate age, one starts from zero in the individual’s date of birth, and then adds one year to each birthday. This is the worldwide method of calculating age.
Although this method is popular in other places, for Koreans it is a difference from the “Korean era” method. Since 1962, this method has been used for official and legal purposes.
- The “age” method.
This method can be a combination of the above two methods. The age counting procedure starts from zero at birth. However, it adds an age to every January 1st. This method is applicable to laws such as the Military Service Act.
Are all these methods confusing?
That thing. Koreans have faced the problem of confusion and mistakes in various situations such as labor disputes, health recommendations, social hierarchy, etc.
For example, health officials have used inconsistent age standards during vaccination against the coronavirus.
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New rule
New law in South Korea recognizes an international age calculation system, based on a person’s actual date of birth to calculate age. This way, everyone in Korea who calculates their age using the “Korean age” method will be one or two years younger.
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Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education