SEOUL – South Koreans have become a year or two younger as a new law aligns the nation’s two traditional age-counting methods with international standards.
The law scraps one traditional system that deemed South Koreans one year old at birth, counting time in the womb.
Another counted everyone as ageing by a year every first day of January instead of on their birthdays.
The switch to age-counting based on birth date took effect on Wednesday.
President Yoon Suk Yeol pushed strongly for the change when he ran for office last year. The traditional age-counting methods created “unnecessary social and economic costs,” he said.
For instance, disputes have arisen over insurance pay-outs and determining eligibility for government assistance programmes.
Previously, the most widely used calculation method in Korea was the centuries-old “Korean age” system, in which a person turns one at birth and gains a year on Jan. 1. This means a baby born on Dec. 31 will be two years old the next day. (BBC)
