The South Korean age system is about to change. Here’s how

The country is ending its traditional Korean age method of counting ages. South Korean babies are counted as 1 year old when they’re born. Then a year is added to everyone’s age on 1 January. There’s a separate way of calculating the age for joining the army or when you can legally smoke and drink. This means starting from zero at birth and adding a year every 1 January. Since 1962, the country has also used the international counting method for medical and legal documents. This can lead to some confusing situations… Here’s more about how the Korean age will work from June 2023.