How Old Am I in Korea? A Short FAQ on the 2023 Age Law — Epoche B1
Until the summer of 2023, a Korean newborn was one year old at birth, and everybody added another year together on 1 January — so a baby born in December could be two within a few weeks. A new law changed the official rule. Here are the questions people ask. What exactly changed? From 28 June 2023, amendments to the Civil Act and to the Framework Act on Administration made international age — completed years since the day you were born — the default meaning of "age" in laws, contracts and public documents, unless a particular rule says otherwise. Was there only one old system? No, there were two, side by side. Korean age (one at birth, plus one each New Year) belonged to daily speech. "Year age", meaning this year minus your birth year, was already used in certain statutes. Where does the birth year still govern? School: children enter primary school with the others born in the same calendar year. Military service: a man's examination and call-up are arranged by birth year. Age limits on tobacco and alcohol, which are written in year age. Then why has ordinary conversation not changed? Because the number was never only a number. The first question a new acquaintance asks is often "what year were you born?", and the answer decides who speaks first, who pours, and which verb endings each person uses. A law can rewrite a form quickly. It cannot rewrite a grammar. So how old am I? On paper, younger than before. At the table, exactly as old as your birth year makes you. Both answers are correct, which is the honest lesson: age was never a plain fact, but a way of arranging people. References Civil Act of the Republic of Korea, Article 158 (as amended December 2022; in force 28 June 2023) — calculation of age. Framework Act on Administration (Republic of Korea), provision on the calculation of age (as amended December 2022; in force 28 June 2023). Youth Protection Act (Republic of Korea) — definition of "youth" by year of birth.