Koreans Are Getting A Year Younger 뭐? 한국 사람은 나이가 줄어든다고?

Did you all know that Koreans were always one year older in age compared to other countries? That’s because they consider a year in the womb as counting towards their age, so everyone is one year old at birth. South Korea is the only country that practices this.

However, all Koreans are soon going to be a year younger! Read on to find out why. Do you think this is a good idea? Share your thoughts!

1. What is happening? 한국 나이는 왜 달라?

South Korea is to scrap its traditional (오래된) method (방법) of counting ages and adopt the international standard. This means that there will be a change (변경) that will knock one or two years off people’s ages on official documents (서류) in Korea but could take time to seep into daily life.

2. The tradition 한국 나이의 유래

South Koreans was used to be a year old (한살) when they are born (태어날때), and a year is added (추가) to their age during every 1st of January. An unusual (특이한) custom means that a baby that was born on the New Year’s Eve will become 2 years old (두살) once the clock strikes midnight (자정).

3. The New Law. 새로게 개정된 법

The President (대통령) of South Korea had announced (발표) that the new rule to count ages in Korea will be changed to the international (국제적인) age counting method. It is said that this new rule will be official (정식으로) starting (시작) from June 2023 onwards.

4. Why is it changing? 왜 이런 일이?

It is said that the revision is aimed to reduce (줄이다) the number of unnecessary (불필요한) socioeconomic costs (사회경제적 비용) happening as legal (법적) and social (사회적) disputes as well as confusion (혼란) persist due to the different ways of calculating age.

5. Reactions of citizens 시민들의 반응

There are actually many people who are excited (반기다) about this news (소식) as they said they were going to be 2 years younger (젊어지다) than their original (원래) age. However, of course there are citizens who prefer (선호하다) to use the old traditional way in counting their ages.

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