The international system replaces one of the country's two traditional methods, where people are deemed to be a year old at birth - taking into account time spent in the womb.
“I was about to turn 30 next year [under the traditional Korean age system], but now I have some more time earned, and I love it,” Choi Hyun-ji, a 27-year-old office worker in Seoul, told the Reuters News agency.
I actually don’t get how this works, and I lived in South Korea for a year. I get that your age increases on New Year’s Day, but how can you be any more than a year older than your “international age”?
I've seen no evidence of counting time in the womb. I have seen lots of non-Koreans spreading the belief around.
What happens is the moment you are born you are 1 in Old Korea Counting (OKC). 0 international.
On January 1 you are 2 in OKC and 0 international.
On your 1st birthday you are 2 in OKC and 1 international.
On the next January 1 you are 3 OKC and 1 international.
And so forth.
Source: 2 decades in Korea, Korean spouse who is happy to be younger, and a Korean child who is very disappointed to be younger. When our child was born we didn't say they were 9 months (OKC), they were 1(OKC).
It has been explained to me as "counting the years you have been alive during".
Sorry if it's a silly question, but if a child is born on december 31 just a minute before the new year, could he be 2 before the mother gets to hold him then?
Let's say the office worker who is 27 internationally today was born in December 1995. He was 1 at his birth, turned 2 in January 1996 (Korean age). In January 2023 he turned 29 and will turn 30 in January 2024, but internationally he'll turn 28 in December 2023.
On the one hand this really does make stuff easier for everyone involved. On the other hand this again removes a piece of human culture from the face of the earth.
They said on the post that those ages stay, so kids will still be able to drink at 19 (old system) which is either 17 or 18 international depending on birthday.
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