Once you step your foot on Korean land you will be 1 or 2 years older. Why, you ask?
In Korea age is counted differently. From the moment you are born you are already 1 years old. This is because a person’s life is seen beginning when they are conceived. And after birth everyone gets a year older again on New Year’s (Lunar’s) day and not on a person’s actual birthday. So if a baby is born on December 31 it will become 2 years old on New Year’s day. I was born in October 1991, in western age that makes me 23 but in Korean age I’d be (+1 year for when I was born, + 1 year on New Year’s) 25.
Nowadays Koreans are also familiar with the western system of measuring age. But to avoid any confusions, you can state the year you were born rather than your actual age.
So what’s your Korean age?
