New law will make all South Korean citizens younger by one or two years

Seoul to scrap ‘Korean age’ system which sees citizens turn one-year-old on the day they are born

(EPA)

Every South Korean citizen will officially become one or two years younger from next year after a new bill was passed to revise the antiquated system used to count a person’s age.

Under the current apparatus, newborns in the east Asian country are considered one year old, while most countries begin the tally a year on from the date a person is born.

From that point on, South Korean citizens turn a year older at the start of the New Year. So, for children born on 31 December, they will turn two the day after being delivered.