As of this Wednesday, South Koreans are one or two years younger with the entry into force of new laws that force them to use only the international method of age calculation, replacing the country’s traditional method.
According to Reuters, South Koreans consider babies to be one year old when they are born and celebrate every birthday on January 1st. Thus, a baby born on December 31 automatically turned one year old, and a day later he was already two years old.
In accordance with BBCLast December, lawmakers voted to abolish traditional methods of counting votes. Despite this measure, many of the existing laws that determine a person’s age based on the calendar year will remain in place. For example, South Koreans can buy cigarettes and alcohol from the year they turn 19, not the day they turn 19.