All Koreans become younger from June

Lee Wan-kyu

The author is the minister of government legislation.

Foreigners in Korea often have trouble answering the question “How old are you?” That primarily comes from the intrinsic difference in counting age. While other countries follow the international norms of counting age based on a person’s birth date, a baby is deemed one year old when they are born in Korea. (Koreans count the nine months a baby spends in their mother’s womb as one year.)

Since the method is only used in Korea, it is even called “Korean age” or “K-age.” So when the National Assembly passed a set of bills unifying the age-counting system at the end of last year, many foreign news media outlets as well as Korean ones focused on this change that will knock one or two years off people’s ages.

The laws unifying the age-counting system were enacted thanks to revisions to the General Act on Public Administration and Civil Act, which clarify the use of the international age system across all judicial and administrative areas. The laws will take effect on June 28. Some people are worried that due to the sudden change in age, they would get disadvantages in school and retirement, for instance. But actually, there is no change when it comes to defining legal age, including age used for school and retirement. The change will be seen in our everyday life. Due to the mixed use of age calculations, legal and social disputes as well as confusion have persisted in Korea.

The revision aims to foster a culture of using international age in more informal circumstances. There are three ways to count one’s age in Korea. In principle, Korea has used “international age” in most legal definitions. When there are specific regulations, Koreans also use the so-called “calendar age,” which adds a year to their age every January 1. But in daily life, Koreans abide by “Korean age,” where a person is one year old as soon as they are born, and gains one year on every New Year’s Day. As a result, civil complaints and legal disputes have sparked when defining age for administrative and welfare services or interpreting age for insurance and labor contracts. After the laws go into effect and the way age is counted is standardized, the confusion will end and unnecessary social and economic costs also can be reduced.

It could take time for the international age-counting method to seep into the daily life of Koreans as their age-counting system is deeply ingrained in their culture. In the beginning, there may be some confusion after the laws take effect. To help minimize expected confusion, the Ministry of Government Legislation (MOLEG) encouraged citizens to use their “international age” and promote it in cooperation with the central and local governments from the beginning of the year. We produce and distribute educational materials tailored to the needs of students, local residents and public officials on the front line, and provide education and training on handling civil complaints and answering inquiries about the new laws unifying the age-counting system without difficulties.

In addition, as a follow-up measure to the revision, the “calendar age” under the current law will be replaced by the “international age.” “Calendar age,” which is used in some laws, is calculated by simply subtracting the year of birth from the current year. As people born in the same year have the same “calendar age,” regardless of actual birthdays, MOLEG plans to modify laws that use “calendar age” when defining legal age, unless absolutely necessary for people’s convenience, such as for a research project or collecting public opinions.

For example, if the legal age to apply for various civil service examinations is set by the “international age,” even those who are born in the same year and graduated from university in the same year may not be able to take the exams depending on when the date is set for the examinations. In this case, it is advantageous for people to use the “calendar age.” On the other hand, since it is necessary to ensure that everyone is equally protected when the period of special protection for minors in relation to criminal offenses and punishments is determined, it would be beneficial to use the “international age.”

When we become accustomed to using the “international age” in everyday life, I expect positive changes to occur in our consciousness and culture regarding age. Korea’s unique hierarchical culture in which the age gap of one or two years carries significance can be broken down. And the culture that values the group over the individual also can diminish. MOLEG will endeavor to spread a horizontal and flexible culture in our society as well as handle social conflicts and unnecessary costs by adopting the international age counting system.