THIS JUNE will mark an end to South Korea’s traditional age calculation method—something that has brought confusion for a significant time—as Korea adopts the international standard. With the aforementioned change, South Koreans will become a year or two younger on their official documents. As this new system is expected to reduce the unnecessary social cost originating from Korea’s original age system and is receiving widespread support, this change seems necessary and appropriate.  

Korea’s age system

   To this day, South Korea has failed to unify its age-counting method and instead carried three different methods for separate purposes. Most Koreans use the “Korean age system” on a daily social basis, which adds one year to a person’s age at birth and increments their age by one every January 1. However, the government has been adopting the Year age system[1] and the International age system[2] for official purposes. While the Year age system is applied in law such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for deciding when children should begin their school years, the International age system is used for most legal and official purposes such as medical procedures.

   South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol and his administration are abolishing this confusing array of systems by stipulating the mandatory usage of the International age system. On December 8, the South Korean National Assembly passed a set of bills that mandates the standardization of the international age for all administrative and judicial areas[3]. This new law will take effect in June with revisions to the Civil Act and the General Act on Public Administration[4]. 

Advantages

   The Korean age system was widely used in East Asia, but only South Korea continued to use it, while other countries adopted the International age system. This brought inconvenience for Koreans traveling or working overseas, especially when asked about their age for official documents. In an interview with The Guardian, Jeong Da-eun, a 29-year-old office worker, underscored how she always had to “think twice when asked [about] her age overseas[5].” As Korea now joins the global standard, the new age system will most likely alleviate international communication issues caused by different age counting methods.

   Furthermore, standardizing the International age system will eliminate some of the disadvantages for children born late in the year with the Year age system. Under the Year age system, children born late in the year quickly turn 2 years old due to the proximity of their birthdays to New Year’s Day. Hence, these children are often placed in classes with older and advanced students since they are seen as the same age by Korea’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This can add significant pressure on these children, especially in South Korea’s competitive academic environment. 

   Moreover, the mixed usage of the age-counting methods has caused social disputes when interpreting government policies as in the case of vaccine administration, which is anticipated to be resolved with the new adjustment. Before health authorities decided to unify the age counting method, they used the Korean age system and the International age system interchangeably to set the age bracket for vaccine eligibility—causing a significant amount of confusion[6]. For example, the Korean government’s restriction on the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 30 caused confusion on vaccine eligibility because it did not clarify which age system it was based on[7]. 

Reactions

   The majority of South Koreans have been supportive in response to the unification of the age-counting system. Although there are some critics that oppose the change—citing it to be an unnecessary abolishment of Korea’s unique culture for no significant benefit, an opinion poll by the Ministry of Government Legislation last September showed that over 80% of Koreans support the unification[6].

   Many prominent politicians and experts are siding with the public and welcoming the unification. For instance, Lee Yong-ho, chief of President Yoon’s transition team, emphasized how the Yoon administration’s decision will reduce “unnecessary social and economic costs from persistent disputes over calculating age when receiving administrative services[8]” due to different calculations of the legal and social age.   

[1] Year age system: An age counting method that start the count from zero at birth but adds a year of age every January 1

[2] International age system: An age counting method that starts the count from zero at birth and adds a year every birthday 

[3] The Korea Herald

[4] Yonhap

[5] The Guardian

[6] NPR

[7] Korea JoongAng Daily

[8] VOA