South Koreans develop youthful in a single day because the nation modifications the way it counts folks’s ages

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As South Korea campaigns to retire an outdated and odd age-counting technique that makes folks a yr or two older than they are surely, youngsters are among the many few who appear most keen to stay with the previous.

“I turned 6 and then became 5 again,” Kim Da-in mentioned when a TV reporter requested her a couple of new regulation that went into impact Wednesday that formalizes the worldwide age-counting technique as customary in administrative and civil legal guidelines and encourages folks to tally their very own ages accordingly.

South Korea’s conventional age-counting customized considers each particular person 1 yr outdated at delivery and provides one other yr when the calendar hits Jan. 1, that means a toddler born on Dec. 31 turns 2 the subsequent day.

While the brand new regulation is the nation’s newest try to retire that technique and standardize worldwide ages primarily based on the passing of birthdays, it’s not instantly clear what is going to truly change — placing apart the minor frustrations of children like Kim ready for his or her birthdays.

President Yoon Suk Yeol has described standardizing worldwide ages as a key aim of his authorities, citing a necessity to cut back “social and administrative confusion” and disputes. But officers in South Korea’s Ministry of Government Legislation acknowledge the brand new regulation gained’t meaningfully change how the nation’s public providers are achieved, as most are already primarily based on worldwide ages.

International ages are the usual in most South Korean legal guidelines and official and authorized paperwork, and outline when an individual goes to highschool, turns into eligible to drive and vote, and receives a pension.

Still, the regulation was welcomed by Choi Eun-young, a 49-year-old resident within the capital, Seoul, who not feels the necessity to describe herself as being in her 50s.

“The law doesn’t make you biologically younger and there are no real benefits other than feeling good about being called a year younger than before,” she admitted. “But if that’s the international standard, there’s no bad in following it.”

Oh Seung-youl, one other Seoul resident, agreed.

“It’s always good to be younger,” Oh mentioned with fun, praising the brand new regulation for turning him 61 from 63.

“My birthday is Dec. 16 and I became 2 years old less than a month after I was born,” mentioned Oh. “That’s why I said (the old counting method) doesn’t make sense.”

While the brand new regulation states that an individual’s age have to be counted by the passing of birthdays for many public providers, it doesn’t have an effect on different age-related laws which might be primarily based on yearly guidelines.

Staying the identical is the nation’s authorized age for consuming and smoking, that are allowed from Jan. 1 of the yr an individual turns 19 of their worldwide age, no matter whether or not their birthday has handed.

The new regulation doesn’t have an effect on when South Korean males turn into eligible to serve their necessary navy duties, which is from Jan. 1 of the yr they flip 18 in worldwide age.

Changing these age laws would require revisions of the nation’s youth safety and navy service legal guidelines, the federal government laws ministry mentioned.

Lee Wan-kyu, the federal government laws minister, mentioned in an announcement the brand new regulation is generally aimed toward decreasing confusion in every day life and provoking a change in “social perception” towards a extra rational approach of counting ages.

Promoting worldwide age as a social customary might be essential in areas like healthcare. For instance, a toddler might be in danger if his or her dad and mom see a cough syrup instruction that reads “20ml for 12 years and older” and suppose it means the so-called “Korean age,” the ministry mentioned in a information launch.

There have additionally been cases the place public transport customers demand refunds after paying for his or her youngsters’s fares, considering the free rides given to youngsters beneath 6 meant their Korean age.

Differing age interpretations impressed a serious dispute in 2004 at a dairy firm, Namyang, after unionists and administration disagreed over the phrases of their collective bargaining settlement that allowed the corporate to steadily scale back the salaries of staff aged 56 or older.

Following a yearslong court docket battle over whether or not 56 meant the Korean age or worldwide age, the Supreme Court in 2022 dominated that the settlement must be interpreted as 55 years in worldwide age, citing communication data between unionists.

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