SOUTH KOREA IS GETTING RID OF ITS "KOREAN AGE" SYSTEM

[Your Biggest Fan]

This means some people could be 2 years “younger” soon.

Those who have Korean friends may have heard of the country’s “Korean age” system, where a person turns 1 the day they are born. South Korea’s president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol announced that his transition team will be pushing to get rid of the system, using the internationally recognized age system instead.

For those unaware, there are three different ways to count age in Korea, the most common one being the “Korean age” system. A person is considered to be 1 year old when they are born, counting the time they are in their mother’s womb (rounded up to one year) as part of their age. On top of that, everyone gets one year older on New Year’s Day, instead of on their birthday. The second system is the globally recognized one where one’s age is determined on their birthday. In the third system, which is least used, a person is considered 0 years old at birth and gains one year on New Year’s Day. If you were born in December of 2020, you would currently be 3 in “Korean age,” 1 in the globally-recognized age and 2 in the third age system.

“Due to the different calculations of legal and social age, we have experienced unnecessary social and economic costs from persistent confusion and disputes over calculating age when receiving social, welfare and other administrative services or signing or interpreting various contracts,” Rep. Lee Yong-ho said at a press conference, according to Yonhap News. The change was one of the promises made in Yoon’s campaign during the presidential elections.

You can read more about the “Korean age” system and how it works here.

 

HYPEBAE

[Aphrodisiac]

Thank god! Because I don’t wannabe 35 when I’m only 30 ‍

[Quinn the Brain]

I wonder how long will take culturally to get rid off, it's so Korean to ask your birth year and calculate your Korean Age

[Nev Schulman]

Congratulations! Less confusion now for everyone

[GetRapper]

No offense OP, but is there another source for this other than the website you linked to? This would be a major cultural change in Korea and would be widely reported.

[starsocks]

5 minutes ago, GetRapper said:

No offense OP, but is there another source for this other than the website you linked to? This would be a major cultural change in Korea and would be widely reported.

It has been ever since the election, but it’s more talk than anything right now

[Your Biggest Fan]

1 hour ago, GetRapper said:

No offense OP, but is there another source for this other than the website you linked to? This would be a major cultural change in Korea and would be widely reported.

Yonhap News Agency

[Firestar]

1 hour ago, GetRapper said:

No offense OP, but is there another source for this other than the website you linked to? This would be a major cultural change in Korea and would be widely reported.

The link in the article is to Yonhap, one of the biggest news and photo providers in Korea, reporting it directly from a press conference, but it's also on  other major papers:

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/04/11/national/socialAffairs/Korean-age-Yoon-Sukyeol-transition-team/20220411183656952.html

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220411000728

 

[himi]

Thank god. I always get confused here when people ask how old I am 

[AstroBaby]

1 hour ago, Quinn the Brain said:

I wonder how long will take culturally to get rid off, it's so Korean to ask your birth year and calculate your Korean Age

I think people asking about birth year will stick around as long as honorifics do. Otherwise you'd have situations where people born in the same year would have to figure out how to refer to each other based on individual birthdays, and there would be like a few months where they'd be the same age and a few where it's different. So having the cutoff of: everyone born in x year can refer to each other casually, is useful as long as the age hierarchy sticks around in language. There's also certain celebrations around birth year like coming of age day which will likely stick around as well.

Edited April 11, 2022 by AstroBaby

[Oxana]

Moment of silence for all of the online Korean age calculators realising that they're going to go out of business

[GetRapper]

2 hours ago, starsocks said:

It has been ever since the election, but it’s more talk than anything right now

 

57 minutes ago, Your Biggest Fan said:

Yonhap News Agency

 

55 minutes ago, Firestar said:

The link in the article is to Yonhap, one of the biggest news and photo providers in Korea, reporting it directly from a press conference, but it's also on  other major papers:

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/04/11/national/socialAffairs/Korean-age-Yoon-Sukyeol-transition-team/20220411183656952.html

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220411000728

 

Thanks everybody!

[MissBlack]

Finally!

[stell]

Less confusion for everybody. And who wants to age a year older anyways, lol. 

Jayb's 30 but he's really only 28. XD