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Every person in South Korea suddenly becomes a year younger (news.sky.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The international system replaces one of the country's two traditional methods, where people are deemed to be a year old at birth - taking into account time spent in the womb.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (8 children)

"I was about to turn 30 next year [under the traditional Korean age system], but now I have some more time earned, and I love it," Choi Hyun-ji, a 27-year-old office worker in Seoul, told the Reuters News agency.

I actually don't get how this works, and I lived in South Korea for a year. I get that your age increases on New Year's Day, but how can you be any more than a year older than your "international age"?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (6 children)

They count the time you are in the womb as one year. So you're already one year old when you are born.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

I've seen no evidence of counting time in the womb. I have seen lots of non-Koreans spreading the belief around.

What happens is the moment you are born you are 1 in Old Korea Counting (OKC). 0 international.

On January 1 you are 2 in OKC and 0 international.

On your 1st birthday you are 2 in OKC and 1 international.

On the next January 1 you are 3 OKC and 1 international.

And so forth.

Source: 2 decades in Korea, Korean spouse who is happy to be younger, and a Korean child who is very disappointed to be younger. When our child was born we didn't say they were 9 months (OKC), they were 1(OKC).

It has been explained to me as "counting the years you have been alive during".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It is a widely held believe in Korea. Implying that foreigners are spreading it for no reason seems ignorant at best, disingenuous at worst.

Although afaik there is no clear evidence and the exact reason is unknown.

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