Songpa-gu Demands Legal Revision on Age Criteria for Children and Adolescents

Confusion Arises Among Citizens and Administrative Fields Due to Different Age Criteria for Children and Adolescents in Individual Laws... Age Criteria to Be Readjusted to School Age ▲Infants Under 6 Years ▲Children Aged 6 to 13 ▲Adolescents Aged 14 to Under 19; Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and Ministry of Health and Welfare Proposed to Amend Laws to Readjust Age Criteria for Children and Adolescents

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Mr. A, who turns 19 this year and becomes an adult, is defined as a youth under the “Youth Basic Act,” but is considered a adolescent under the “Youth Basic Act” until he turns 25. In addition, Mr. B, a 17-year-old first-year high school student, is classified as a child under the “Child Welfare Act,” but is also considered a adolescent under youth-related laws.

In this way, South Korea has different age criteria for children and adolescents in individual laws, causing confusion among frontline administrative offices implementing related policies and the public. However, socially, children are often distinguished as infants and children based on whether they attend elementary school, and adolescents are defined as those in middle and high school.

Accordingly, Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) proposed to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Ministry of Health and Welfare to revise the legal age criteria for children and adolescents based on school age as follows: ▲infants under 6 years old ▲children aged 6 to 13 ▲adolescents aged 14 to under 19.

Looking at overseas legislative examples, Germany’s “Child and Youth Support Act” comprehensively addresses life stages, defining children as under 14, adolescents as 14 to under 18, and youth as 18 to 27 years old.

Finland has enacted the “Youth Act,” which covers the entire life span, defining youth as under 29 years old, while individual laws define age differently.

In this way, many countries overseas define children and adolescents inclusively according to life stages.

There have been many discussions at the National Assembly level and academic conferences to resolve the inconsistencies and differing definitions of children and adolescents in laws.

However, since the responsible government departments differ and various related laws are intertwined, revisions have not been easily made.

Mayor Park Seong-su stated, “While we agree with the legislative intent to broadly define the age criteria for children and adolescents to expand the beneficiaries, there is public confusion due to inconsistent age definitions for policy targets, and administrative inefficiency due to overlapping ages in policies.” He added, “We hope related ministries will actively work to readjust the age criteria for children and adolescents according to the socially common school age standards.”