Reform is the reason that could explain the balance sheet rejuvenation of South Korean citizens in the coming months. There are two systems for calculating age in rural areas. Details.
You’re 18 in France, you could be 19 in South Korea. In fact, citizens in rural areas often give a very specific age when they are questioned. But a reform requested by new President Yoon Suk-yeol could change everything. The latter aims to eliminate the Korean age and replace it with the international age we know in France, explains the Ouest France daily, which is reporting the news.
How is age calculated in Korea?
As the specialist website KajaCorée explains, a child in South Korea is 1 year old when it is born. The nine months spent in the womb count as a full year. But that’s not all. “Regardless of your birthday, on January 1st you gain a year,” the site explains. The birthday is celebrated on the day of birth but the year is added to January 1st.
“You don’t need to know a person’s exact birthday to know their age,” you just need to know “their year of birth,” explains KajaCorée. To calculate the Korean age, there is a simple mathematical formula: “Korean age = current year – year of birth + 1”.
The end of the Korean era on May 10th?
But this kind of calculation could well come to an end. At least that is the intention of President Yoon Suk-yeol, who will be elected in 2022. He wants to change the law so that only the international age known to us is preserved in official documents. This reform could come into force on May 10, 2022, reports Ouest France.
This change would aim to simplify “administrative complexities” and exchanges with foreigners. South Korea is the latest country to use such a calculation system. A real rejuvenation.