Iwan-gyu, Head of the Legislation Office, "Social Costs Related to Age Will Decrease"
The 'Unified Full Age Act,' which standardizes the legal and social age criteria, will come into effect on the 28th. As a result, legal disputes and complaints related to age interpretation that have occurred so far are expected to be significantly resolved.
Lee Wankyu, the head of the Ministry of Government Legislation, is explaining the age calculation method and application cases on the afternoon of the 26th, two days before the enforcement of the unified "international age" law, at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
The Ministry of Government Legislation (Minister Lee Wankyu) held a press briefing at the Government Seoul Office on the 26th and announced that the 'Unified Full Age Act,' which partially amends the Framework Act on Administrative Procedures and the Civil Act, will be enforced starting on the 28th. The Unified Full Age Act is a national agenda promoted by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to resolve social and administrative confusion and disputes arising from differences in legal and social age calculation methods. It is one of President Yoon Suk-yeol's representative election pledges.
In Korea, three age calculation methods?'Korean age (Seneun nai),' 'year age (Yeon nai),' and 'full age (Man nai)'?have been used interchangeably. However, internationally, the 'full age' method, which starts at 0 at birth and adds one year on each birthday, is commonly used. With the enforcement of the Unified Full Age Act, age will be calculated starting at 0 on the date of birth and increasing by one each birthday.
According to a public opinion survey conducted by the Ministry of Government Legislation through the National Petition Portal in September last year, 86.2% of respondents said they would use full age in daily life once the Unified Full Age Act is implemented, indicating a high level of public interest in unifying full age.
From the 28th onward, unless otherwise specified, the age indicated in laws, contracts, and official documents will be interpreted as full age. However, systems that already use full age, such as voting rights and pension eligibility, will remain unchanged, and full age will not apply to school entrance age, legal drinking and smoking age, or military service obligations.
The school entrance age remains the same, with children entering school on March 1 of the year following the year they turn 6 full years old. With the enforcement of the Unified Full Age Act, there may be issues with titles or forms of address among students in the same class due to age differences. However, the Ministry of Government Legislation anticipates that as the use of full age becomes more familiar, the hierarchical culture that strictly distinguishes age differences of one or two years will gradually disappear.
Regarding military service obligations under the Military Service Act, age is still calculated by subtracting the birth year from the current year. Based on this year, those born in 2004 will undergo military physical examinations regardless of their birthday.
Minister Lee Wankyu of the Ministry of Government Legislation explained, "There may be various disputes at complaint centers regarding pension eligibility age, and lawsuits related to full age and Korean age also occur in private contracts. These social costs will decrease. Most countries use full age in international dealings, but Korea alone has used Korean age, causing confusion that required separate explanations about age in documents. Aligning with international standards will be more efficient."
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