[masraum]

Those whacky S Koreans!

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/south-korea-international-age-180982458/

Lawmakers have made South Koreans slightly younger—on paper, that is. On Wednesday, the country officially adopted the “international age” system, which dictates that babies are born at 0 years old and gain a year every birthday.

In South Korea, “How old are you?” has long been a complicated question. The country has three methods for determining age: In addition to international age—the system most countries use—South Koreans have also used the systems known as “Korean age” and “year age.”

In the Korean age system, babies are born as 1-year-olds, and a year is added every New Year’s Day. For example, “a baby born on December 31 would be considered 2 years old the next day,” write NPR’s Anthony Kuhn and Mary Yang. Meanwhile, the year age system dictates that babies are born at 0 years old and gain a year every January 1.