The South Korean parliament has passed a series of laws to make the international system for establishing a person's age administratively mandatory, ending the traditional Korean method that was still used on certain official documents and that made everyone citizens had a 1 year, or even two, more.
The laws approved on Thursday in the National Assembly (Parliament) will come into force as of June next year and eliminate this traditional system and another alternative that coexist with the method based only on the date of birth and that is used exclusively In all countries of the world.
South Korea is, along with Taiwan, the only Asian territory that still maintains the traditional Chinese counting system, which originated hundreds of years ago.
Under this system, everyone is already one year old at birth (formerly it was considered that gestation lasted around one year) and also everyone, regardless of their date of birth, automatically turns one year old every January 1 (formerly the year is added at each lunisolar New Year, which is still done in Taiwan).
The system means that, for example, a baby born on December 31 is already two years old on January 1, despite only one day having elapsed since the birth.
North Korea abolished this system decades ago at the official and administrative level, although North Koreans often use the system informally to talk about their age.
The other alternative system that is used in certain sections in South Korea (military administration or educational records, for example), does not automatically add a year at birth but it does make everyone turn a year old at the same time with the arrival of the Year New.
Many in the country have criticized for years that the convergence of the three systems generates confusion and extra costs for the public administration and makes it especially difficult to provide certain social benefits or medical services.
That is why South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed to unify everything using only the international system when he came to power last May.
