The Presidential Transition Committee is pushing for a plan to unify South Korea's age calculation method based on the 'birthday age' standard.

At a briefing in the Toongui-dong office on the 11th, Lee Yong Ho, secretary of the Political Affairs and Judicial Administration Division of the transition committee, said, "The legal and social age calculation methods are not uniform, so there is confusion and disputes about age calculation when people receive administrative services, such as social welfare services, or when concluding or interpreting various contracts. It has continued to incur unnecessary social and economic costs.” 

The confusion has been continuing over the years because there are three ways to count age in South Korea - A person's actual age according to their birthday, the age according to the birth year, and the Korean age that is used by everyone in Korean society. The Korean age is only used in Korea and adds one more year to the birth year age.

One example of confusion is the age in the documentation. The original court interprets age 56 as age 56 according to birthday age, but the Supreme Court interprets the age as '55 according to birthday age.' This dispute and confusion have been going on for over six years.

There was also confusion during vaccination regarding the interpretation of 'under the age of 30,' which does not recommend vaccination for the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine during the same-day reservation service for the remaining vaccine for COVID-19.

Accordingly, the transition committee first established the principle of using 'birthday age' in the civil and administrative fields under the law by preparing the 'year age' calculation method and notation rules in the Civil Act, and the Basic Administrative Act will be promoted.

Measures to stipulate the principle or method of notation of 'year age' in the Civil Act. And when the state and local governments establish various policies or prepare public documents in the Basic Administrative Act, they would use only 'year age' and actively encourage the public to calculate 'year age.' 

According to the transition committee, the Ministry of Legislation is aiming to prepare a draft amendment to the Basic Administrative Act within this year and submit it to the National Assembly so that it can pass the National Assembly by next year.

President-elect Yoon made a promise of unifying the age calculation standard when he was a presidential candidate.

If the use of 'birthday age' is established to be used by citizens in their daily lives, confusion among the people will be minimized when laws and regulations are applied based on a specific age or when administrative and medical services are provided. Misunderstandings will not occur in international relations and age in various contracts. It is expected to have a positive effect on society as a whole, such as a significant reduction in legal disputes and unnecessary costs as there is no room for dispute over interpretation.