Everyone in South Korea may be about to live the dream and become one twelvemonth younger . While this might sound dandy , a lot of citizenry will have to populate through the ordeal of turn 30 , 40 , or 50 doubly .
The incoming South Korean president Yoon Suk - yeol is planning to minify masses ’s historic period when he come up into office . As unusual as that may sound , there is near rationality for the move . In most rural area , multitude flex one a year after they are born . In South Korea , it ’s a lot more complicated than that – it ’s potential that you could have a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. - honest-to-goodness baby who also happens to be 2 .
There are presently three systems of aging in South Korea , with people who use the traditional Korean age system about to see the most time knocked off their age .
In the Korean age scheme , the second you are stomach , you are considered to be a one - yr - old . This is because the meter you spent in the uterus is count as part of your life sentence , even if you did n’t really make the most of it . To make it even more complicated , under this system you do n’t age a year after your birth , but on New Year ’s Day . This mean that if you were born at 11:58 on New Year ’s Eve , two minutes later you would turn two .
As well as causing a lot of redundant press for a newborn ( why the hell is n’t she talking yet , she ’s two ) , the system of rules is out of stride with much of the human beings . There is another organisation – theNew Year birthday system – that allows you to be 0 year old at giving birth , but still maturate you every New Year ’s Day rather than on the Clarence Day of your birth .
The most commonly used arrangement isstill the Korean years system , though some do use the international organization where you are 0 at parturition , and turn 1 a year later on the same day . As well as being plain confusing , it make pragmatic complication .
" Due to the different calculations of effectual and social eld , we have experience unneeded social and economic toll from persistent discombobulation and disputes over calculating age when get social , welfare and other administrative services or signing or interpret various contract , " Lee Yong - ho , headman of the transition team ’s political , judicial and administrative subcommitteesaid of the decisionto bring everyone in line with external old age .
Hopefully with the new system , when hoi polloi are ask their years they will be able to answer with something other than " honestly I have no idea " .
