The age of South Korean citizens decreased from 1 to 2 years overnight! A new law has come into force in the country, as a result of which everyone will now have to follow the international age calculation system, which is replacing the traditional one.
Since the 1960s, the country has followed the international convention of adding zero to birth and adding one year to birthday in legal and medical documents. Nevertheless, in all other respects, many South Koreans continue to calculate their age according to their traditional rules. BBC news
In December 2022, a law to comply with international norms was passed, abolishing the traditional rules of age calculation.
In the system used to determine age around the world, a year is counted from when a child is born—the same day of the following year from that day of birth.
But in the Korean system, the child is considered a one-year-old child immediately after birth. And on January 1 of every year, a new year is added to that year.
A different age calculation process is in place to calculate the legal age for joining the army, participating in school entrance exams, smoking and drinking. In this process the age at birth is taken as zero and the age is incremented by 1 year in January of every year.
Officials said the process will continue until further notice.