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- Jun 22, 2020
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Like many people, Kim Hae-yeon struggled with turning the big 5-0. Unfortunately, she’ll have to do it twice.
“I’m 50,” she says, “but turning 48 soon.”
On Wednesday, Kim and the rest of South Korea will turn a year or two younger as a new national law kicks in that abolishes the unusual way this country has long calculated age.
For centuries, Koreans inflated ages compared with the rest of the world. An individual is 1-year-old at birth, and everyone gains a year together on Jan. 1. A New Year’s Eve baby turns two after a single day.
The new law will switch everyone to the international age standard—which starts people at zero on the day they are born. Koreans already born will get younger, and use their birth to determine how old they are. Official documents will start using the international measure, too.
Kim, a stay-at-home mother, will have to face 50 again in 2024.
www.wsj.com
“I’m 50,” she says, “but turning 48 soon.”
On Wednesday, Kim and the rest of South Korea will turn a year or two younger as a new national law kicks in that abolishes the unusual way this country has long calculated age.
For centuries, Koreans inflated ages compared with the rest of the world. An individual is 1-year-old at birth, and everyone gains a year together on Jan. 1. A New Year’s Eve baby turns two after a single day.
The new law will switch everyone to the international age standard—which starts people at zero on the day they are born. Koreans already born will get younger, and use their birth to determine how old they are. Official documents will start using the international measure, too.
Kim, a stay-at-home mother, will have to face 50 again in 2024.
Everyone in South Korea Is About to Get One or Two Years Younger
The country ditches ancient age-counting system. Thirty-somethings drop back to their 20s; middle age is further off. ‘I’m 50, but turning 48 soon.’
www.wsj.com
