South Korea’s National Assembly has passed a bill to change the way people count their age. By abolishing the conventional “counting year” system, in which a newborn is one year old, and moving to full age, most of the population will look younger by a year or two.
In most regions of the world, the full age system is used, where the time of birth is considered 0 years and the next birthday is counted as 1 year.
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol has said he will seek change when he runs for president this year. The new system will go into effect next June. The Yoon administration explained that abolishing the Korean system would help prevent confusion during procedures for administrative and medical services.
After the bill was passed, the Blue House released a statement saying, “With the passage of the revised bill in the National Assembly, all Korean citizens will get one or two years younger starting on next June”.
The public is in favor of abolishing the year counting system. About 80% of respondents to a government survey conducted in September said they wanted the system abolished. North Korea abolished age counting in the 1980s and moved to full age.
news-rsf-original-reference paywall">Original title:Almost everyone is getting about a year younger in South Korea(extract)