"Everyone will be 1-2 years younger": K-pop fans delighted as South Korea finally adopts new law to join the international standard of age counting

South Koreans will be one or two years younger starting June 28, 2023, as the government has finally adopted a new law to embrace the new International standard of age counting. The bill was introduced into South Korea's National Assembly by President Yoon Suk-yeol in December 2022.

The International Standard age counting system has superseded the conventional age counting system that was commonly employed in social settings and workplaces to establish age-based hierarchies.

In South Korea, the traditional method of age calculation incorporates the duration spent in the womb, resulting in individuals being commonly acknowledged as being one to two years older than their counterparts in other nations. This specific practice is unique to South Korea.

As the law takes effect on June 28, K-pop fans are overjoyed that their stars will be one year younger and no longer have to adhere to the traditional counting age system, which has caused them much confusion.

K-pop fans are excited that South Korea has finally taken the steps to adopt the International age counting system

With the adoption of the International age counting system, South Korea will experience a reduction in age by approximately one to two years.

This means that rather than aging faster than the rest of the world, K-pop idols would now age younger, in line with global standards. Netizens are similarly delighted about this long-awaited milestone since they have long advocated for the abolition of the traditional age-counting system.

Fans of popular K-pop groups such as BTS, BLACKPINK, TXT, and NewJeans are actively engaged in discussions regarding the accurate ages of their respective idols, in accordance with international standards. The International age counting system's adoption by South Korea has generated significant buzz on various social media platforms, eliciting diverse reactions from users.

Starting Wednesday, all judicial and administrative regions within the country will adopt the international standard for determining the age, as mandated by the National Assembly's announcement last year. The objective of this change is to minimize confusion and align with global standards.

Nonetheless, there are some exceptions where the International age counting system will not be used. The aforementioned exceptions apply to the determination of school enrollment age, the legal drinking and smoking age, qualification for public service tests, and the age of mandatory military duty for Korean men.

The current age system based on the New Year will be retained in these specific instances.

Not only K-pop fans, but all Koreans, are ecstatic about the new law and can not wait to be a year younger and walk alongside the rest of the globe.

About the author

Kirti holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism & Mass Communication and has been a Kpop writer at SK POP since 2022. She has been following Kpop and Kdramas since the last 6 years and but has worked in the genre only in the last 3-4 years donning several several caps - social media intern, copywriter, article writer and academic writer.

Kirti likes to pen down insightful features based on Korean dramas, especially the 'Ending Explained' categories. It gives her the satisfaction of creating the most authentic content rather than simply replicating what media outlets generally do.

Her process of creating content is time-consuming, yet methodical; she prefers to use original sources of information, which in her case are Korean outlets. She watches entire episodes, writes them down, cross-checks/fact-checks the details/event timelines off the web and eventually creates her copy.

Kirti likes Lee Je-hoon, IU, and Kim Seon-ho since she feels that their dramas are inspiring and have good plotlines. When she is not writing about K-dramas, she can be found watching them.

Know More