In a recent announcement, the South Korean government passed a law that scrapped the traditional age system being followed in Korea to align it with the internationally accepted standard. The Korean age system deems a child to be already a year old when it is born since they calculate the nine months the child is in the mother’s womb. A year is added to their age every year of the 1st of January. However, the new method of calculating age will be in effect from 2023 making Koreans at least a year younger.
There is not much known about the origin of this ancient system. However, some claim that it has something to do with the ancient numerical system, which did not have the number zero. While a few others believe that ancient Koreans followed the Chinese calendar of 60 years since there were no other calendars back then, they would ignore the day of their birth and add one year to the first day of the lunar calendar.
However, since the 1960s, South Korea switched to the internationally accepted age system where a person’s birth is calculated from zero at birth for legal and medical purposes. Further, to calculate the legal age to drink, they follow a dual age system of calculating age.
This method attracted a lot of criticism from many in the country including many political leaders saying, it puts their country, a technological power, behind the times.
According to Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling people, the revision of the age system was to reduce confusion due to different methods of calculating the age system. He also added that it gives rise to extra expenses owing to the legal disputes that surround it. From next year all these confusions about age will not be nonexistent at least on the official documents of Korean citizens.
The National Assembly passed a partial amendment to the Civil Act and the Administrative Act. This amendment was proposed after a survey revealed that 8 out of 10 Koreans preferred a uniform method of age system.
While some of them might continue following the traditional system in their daily lives, most Koreans were happy with the resolution of the government. A 29-year-old worker named Jeong Da-eun from Korea said she longer has to worry about thinking twice before she told her age. She said people in foreign countries would often look surprised when she would take time to calculate her age and tell them. Many others also took to Twitter to express their happiness about the same.
One user tweeted saying, he is about to get two years younger since he was born in December, and by January he became two years old. He said he was happy to get his real age back.
After all, who would mind being a few years younger?
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