According to The Paper citing foreign media reports, according to the bill passed by the South Korean National Assembly in 2022, starting from June 28, only one year old will be used when registering age on official documents, and the other two age calculation methods such as virtual age will no longer be used.
“We expect that legal disputes, complaints and social confusion over how age is calculated will be greatly reduced,” said Lee Man-gyu, the South Korean government’s legislative minister. And Koreans seem to be willing to make themselves “younger”-according to the survey, more than 80% of Koreans said that after the new law takes effect, they will calculate their age according to their full year of life in their daily life.
The first is the so-called “Korean age”, that is, the day of birth is considered one year old, no matter whether the child’s birthday is January 1 or December 31, the child will automatically become two years old on January 1 of the next year. In other words, according to this age calculation method, a baby born at 23:59 on December 31, 2022 will “grow” into a two-year-old child in two minutes.
The second is informally known as “calculated age”. Under this method of age calculation, the day of birth is still counted as one year old, but “growth” to two years old does not depend on whether it is the New Year’s Day of the second year, but must wait until the child’s first birthday. In other words, a “New Year’s Eve baby” who can “grow” to two years old in two minutes according to the “Korean age” will have to wait a full year according to the “calculated age”.
The third is the “international age”, that is, the year before the child’s birth to the first birthday is “zero age”, and the first birthday means entering one year old. Because this is the age calculation method in most countries around the world, it is also called “international”.
In 2022, Yin Xiyue, who was urgently elected as a presidential candidate by the right wing, strongly advocated the abolition of “Korean age” and “calculated age” during his election process, and stipulated in legislation that only “international age” is the only legal age calculation method in South Korea .
In December 2022, Yin Xiyue, who was just elected, pushed the National Assembly to pass a bill stipulating that “international age” is the only legal age in South Korea. On June 28, 2023, the Act will come into force.
Although “not going back to the past”, from now on, all Koreans are indeed “younger” by one year or even two years in a legal sense.
▲The night view of the commercial street in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.Photo/Xinhua News Agency
“National youth art” accused of superfluous
Some outside observers were puzzled as to why Yin Xiyue was so anxious to promote the “National Youth Art” – because many people pointed out that this was not necessary, at least not a problem that would be urgently resolved at the very beginning of the president’s inauguration .
Moreover, many important national obligations and services that need to be calculated by age have actually been divided according to the “international age”. For example, the military service that every Korean male must perform, from the first moment when the compulsory military service system was established, is “the obligation to perform military service from January 1 of the year when the international age reaches 18 years old.” This provision has not been amended, and in fact there is no need to amend it.
In addition, South Korea’s “Youth Prohibition on Alcohol” stipulates that the minimum legal drinking age is 19 years old, and specifically indicates “international age, and it will be counted from January 1 of the year when he turns 19 years old”. In fact, this algorithm is not comparable to “Korean age”, “calculated age” and “international age”.
In 2004, the management of South Korea’s Namyang Dairy Company cited an agreement to try to cut salaries for employees aged 56 and above, which resulted in the famous “Nanyang Interpretation Controversy” of “how to count 56 years old”. In the end, the Supreme Court of South Korea ruled that “56 years old should be understood as the international age of 55 years old”, which was criticized by the left wing as “protecting the rich”, and has complained so far.
“International legalization of age” has become a foregone conclusion, which has also aroused many syndicalists to speculate that this is tantamount to expanding the scope of “Nanyang Interpretation” to the whole of Korea-in fact, this argument soon appeared for the first time. evidence.
In Gyeonggi-do, many public transport users started booing. Because the bus company stipulates that “children aged 6 and under are free”, which has always been calculated according to the “Korean age”, and the “Korean age” of 8 years old has now become the “international age” of 6 years old, so it should be free of charge.
Therefore, although more than 80% of Koreans welcome this change, there are also many opponents. For example, a pharmacist pointed out that cough medicine stipulates that “the dose should be doubled for those over 12 years old”. If the parents of children have a different understanding of this “12 years old” than the pharmacy or prescribing doctor, it will be a big trouble.
So, why is Yin Xiyue so anxious about this matter?
▲Tourists on the streets of Seoul, the capital of South Korea.Photo/Xinhua News Agency
Some people believe that Yin Xiyue saw the results of relevant polls and believed that the risk is very small, but if it succeeds, the benefits will be great, so he put down many other more urgent and important matters It seems that there is not much about it, and there is not much about it, and it is hotly pursued.
As we all know, the so-called “Korean age” and “calculated age” are not Korean “native products”, but imported from the Chinese lunar calendar tradition. In ancient China, the concept of “zero” has not been clarified for a long time. Therefore, the newborn is automatically counted from “one year old”, and “one year after New Year’s Day” or not are two of the traditions of “one year old on the ground”. Small variables.
Moreover, from a series of other recent actions by Yin Xiyue, it can be seen that the rapid introduction and effectiveness of the “Youth Art” for all citizens this time is not accidental and isolated.
In fact, Japan changed the Spring Festival to New Year’s Day in the Gregorian calendar shortly after the Meiji Restoration, and Vietnam even abolished and restored the Spring Festival. Therefore, Yin Xiyue only cares about standardizing South Korea’s “age calculation habits” without more “careful thinking”.
Some Korean sociologists have long pointed out that the effect of “statutory youth” may not be as desired by some politicians. After all, what should be changed and needs to be changed has been changed long ago, and those involving “township conventions and folk customs” will be changed even if they are changed. It doesn’t necessarily work either.
Written by Tao Duanfang (columnist)
Editor / He Rui
Proofreading / Zhao Lin Return to Sohu to see more
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2023-06-30 06:26:00
