South Koreans become a year younger under new age-counting law

South Koreans person go a twelvemonth oregon 2 younger arsenic a caller instrumentality aligns the nation's age-counting strategy with planetary standards.

The instrumentality scraps a centuries-old strategy that deems South Koreans 1 twelvemonth aged astatine birth, counting clip successful the womb.

The full colonisation besides aged by a twelvemonth each archetypal time of January alternatively of their birthdays nether the aged system.

The power to age-counting based connected commencement day took effect connected Wednesday.

President Yoon Suk-yeol pushed powerfully for the alteration erstwhile helium ran for bureau past year. Non-standardised age-counting methods created "unnecessary societal and economical costs", helium said.

For instance, disputes person arisen implicit age-based security pay-outs and determining eligibility for authorities assistance programmes.

Lawmakers voted to scrap the accepted counting methods past December.

The ineligible ages for buying cigarettes and liquor volition stay unchanged, arsenic good the ineligible property for mandatory subject work and schoolhouse admissions.

The aged system, which considers the clip spent successful the mother's womb arsenic a person's archetypal twelvemonth of life, was besides utilized by different East Asian countries, but astir person dropped it.

Japan adopted the planetary modular successful 1950 portion North Korea followed suit successful the 1980s.