South Korea adopting western age system

By Cayni Sheeqow

The “Korean age” is the method used by Koreans to work out their age. It’s consistently one or two years more than someone’s international age. Koreans consider one year in the womb as counting towards their age, so everyone is automatically one at birth and everyone gets one year added to their Korean age on New years day. This "Korean age" method may soon change as the country's president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is pushing for this centuries-old method of counting to be abolished.

Lee Yong-ho, the chief of the president-elect's transition committee, said the incoming administration was looking to standardize the way age is counted to bring South Korea in line with the rest of the world.He said the different age calculations had resulted in "persistent confusion" and "unnecessary social and economic costs".

The new proposal seems to have been widely embraced by some. "Globalization has made Koreans more aware of the international age. This has an impact on young people as they feel that Koreans are being ridiculed for [these counting systems]", according to Kim Eun-ju, professor at Law and Policy at Hansung University. However, experts say they have doubts as to whether it will be implemented, as it would be extremely difficult to completely change everyone’s age on every system and rather expensive.

There are three age systems used in South Korea at the current moment, one of which is the so called ‘Korean age’ highlighted above. International age (used by most countries, Including Britain) is preferred on official documents, legal provisions, and in media reporting. Third, Koreans use year-age (yeon-nai) for the Juvenile Protection Act and Military Service laws. Year-age is merely the difference between the birth year and the current year.

To some, it may just be a number - but age is something taken very seriously in South Korea. "To South Koreans, figuring out if someone is older than them or not is more important than finding out somebody's name in a social context. It is essential in choosing how to address that person and the honorific or title which is required. " Shin Ji-young, professor at the Department of Korean Language and Literature in Korea University told the BBC.

However, the use of the Korean age has had some drawbacks. Parents have attempted to cheat the system ‘because they are worried that their December babies will be at a disadvantage at school, and as a result, later in life. During the pandemic, there were also calls for age to be standardized, after health authorities used the international age and Korean age interchangeably to set the age bracket for vaccine eligibility - leading to much confusion.’