In Korea, Ahead of the presidential election, candidates are making several campaign pledges. Among them, a promise to change the Korean age system into an international standard is attracting people's attention.
The Korean age system is a little bit different from the international age system that calculates how many years and months a person has lived since his or her birthday. Korea has a unique way of counting babies as being age 1 from birth. That means everyone in Korea already becomes a year old at birth. This is the idea that time in a mother's womb is also considered a part of life.
People already treat their baby in the womb as a human. So Koreans give their baby a name during pregnancy to call the unborn baby before the baby is born. (=Taemyeong) It is also the unique culture of Korea to give an unborn child a name and call that name from the time she is in the womb.
However, the Korean age system got a problem during the Covid-19 period. Our government announced its plan to implement the vaccine pass for children aged between 12~18. Vaccine eligibility age, which begins at the age of 12 and older, follows the international standard age system but the Korean government has applied the vaccine pass mandate from 12 years old using the Korean age system. Children born in 2010 are not yet 12 years old, so they are not suitable for the vaccination.
As soon as the government's announcement came out, the public's complaints intensified, leading the political class to make such a pledge. In Korea, not all institutions follow the Korean age system, but some are following international standards, which is why confusion is mounting.