South Koreans immediately turn out to be youthful beneath new age-counting system

South Koreans have immediately turn out to be a yr or two youthful.

It follows new legal guidelines requiring the usage of the internationally recognised means of counting age taking impact on Wednesday.

It replaces one of many nation’s two conventional strategies, the place individuals are deemed to be a yr previous at delivery – considering time spent within the womb.

The “Korean age” system additionally sees folks ageing up by a yr on 1 January yearly, as an alternative of on their precise delivery date.

It means somebody born on New Year’s Eve would flip two years previous on New Year’s Day.

The different conventional technique – or “counting age” – considers an individual zero at delivery however their age goes up a yr each 1 January.

This technique means somebody born on New Year’s Eve would flip one on New Year’s Day.

The “counting age” technique will nonetheless stay in place with many legal guidelines nonetheless utilizing it – as an example, folks in South Korea should buy alcohol from the yr – and never the day – they flip 19.

Nonetheless, the legislation change might imply that South Koreans have years knocked off their ages on official paperwork.

‘It’s simply nice to really feel like getting youthful’

Since the early Nineteen Sixties, the nation has used the worldwide norm of calculating from zero at delivery and including a yr on each birthday for medical and authorized paperwork.

But many South Koreans continued to make use of the standard technique for every thing else.

In a briefing on Monday, minister of presidency laws Lee Wan-kyu stated: “We expect legal disputes, complaints and social confusion that have been caused over how to calculate ages will be greatly reduced.”

A authorities survey which was performed in September final yr revealed that 86% of South Koreans stated they’d use the worldwide age system of their on a regular basis life when the brand new legal guidelines takes impact.

“I was about to turn 30 next year [under the traditional Korean age system], but now I have some more time earned, and I love it,” Choi Hyun-ji, a 27-year-old workplace employee in Seoul, advised the Reuters News company.

“It’s just great to feel like getting younger,” Mr Choi added.

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What’s my Korean age?

According to 90 Day Korean – an internet site on the Korean language and tradition – there’s a easy technique to get that reply.

One of the methods you are able to do that is by including one yr to the present yr after which subtracting that out of your yr of delivery.

For instance, 2023 +1 – 1997 = 27 years of age.