On June 28th, the International Age Unification Law will finally be introduced in Korea. Until today, Korea has used the calendar age system in administrative services and the international age system in legal texts and contracts. While in daily life, the age system worked by adding one year from the date of birth. However, a new law will unify all the current age-counting systems into one standardized system: the international age-counting system. Therefore, the Sungkyun Times (SKT) will now analyze the incoming law’s expected effects, loopholes and possible solutions.
Korea’s Unique Ways to Count Age
-Confusion from Current Counting System
Korea has a variety of ways to count age, such as the Korean age system, the international age system, and the calendar age system. The most widely used method is the Korean age system, derived from the country’s honorific culture. Meanwhile, Korean law uses the international system — age drawn by subtracting the current year from the birth year, and also another year if the birthday has not passed. In administrative services, calendar age is applied, which is derived by simply subtracting the current year from the birth year. Since it is difficult to fully know how age is applied in each field, the damages caused by confusion can be considerable, especially with insurance and administrative services. For example, when the vaccination policy for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started, the standard on whether a child should be vaccinated under Korean age or international age was not settled. The social cost derived from these situations led to a waste of time and money and complex administrative procedures, raising voices that it needs a resolution.
-What Is the Unification of International Age?
The introduction of the international age has long been discussed since the mid-to-late 2010s. Consequently, the International Age Unification Law was passed by Congress on December 8th last year and promulgated on December 27th. 241 out of 250 attendees at the session voted for the law, and the 96.4% approval rating proved how unification with the international age was a long-held desire. According to the bill, the international age, which sets the standard on date of birth, will be further applied to aspects including legislation, contracts, and official documents. However, the bill is not applying the counting system in fields of youth protection, military service, and education. Each of the reasons behind this are said to protect youth by categorizing them with their peers, maintain rapid administrative processes in military service, and prevent problems of exam opportunities varying by birthdate. Overall, the introduction of the law is expected to bring positive changes to society in the long run and also ease the calls for international communication.
The Discrepancy between Reality and Ideals
-Solid Body, Weak Branches
Considering its advantages, unifying the international age in legal and administrative fields seems appropriate; however, some concerns exist regarding its effectiveness. The problem is especially evident in administrative areas. For example, the Law of Youth Protection uses complex age standards. In addition to the international age, 19- is used when the calendar age is applied, and 18+ is used when the person is 18 years old but has not attended high school. These age standards have also been criticized for holding back young people rather than protecting them. Regarding this issue, Hwang Jae-dong (freshman, Department of Global Economics) expressed how he experienced inconvenience. He said that he had to search for several different banks as age standards between general and stock accounts differ due to the complex system. Moreover, the International Age Unification Law is not applied in the insurance field but maintains using a unique age calculation system called insurance age. Insurance age refers to the standard age when a person purchases insurance. The purpose is to minimize cost by grouping people on six monthly bases based on the insurance age. However, many consumers are not aware of this age system. This causes issues where they subscribe to misunderstanding the international age, resulting in more social costs to fix the misunderstanding.
-Does the Change in the Law Lead to Cultural Change?
For the bill to yield positive results as in horizontal organizational structure and reduce social costs, it is necessary to lead the revision to cultural changes. However, the current International Age Unification Law is limited to fields of law and administration, not to citizen’s daily life. Accordingly, some criticize that unnecessary confusion might arise by officially standardizing the international age, which is already mainly used in official documents. In addition, distinct Korean language culture, such as honorifics, has been fixed in the country for a long time, which may lead to path dependence problems. Path dependence refers to a situation where people become familiar with past practices and tend to continue them even though they are not efficient anymore. Since honorifics have been maintained despite the massive sunken costs they created in social communication, cultural factors will be the obstacles to unification. Therefore, it will be difficult to bring short-term cultural changes and reduce social costs through legal revisions.
For Successful Application
-The True Unification of International Age
o successfully unite and settle the international age system in Korean society, unification in other parts is vital as well. To achieve this, age unification must be done in military service, insurance, and youth protection, as these fields are not covered by the International Age Unification Law. Since the Meanwhile, there are various positive and negative opinions on the unity of all systems in the international age system. Thus, it is necessary to have enough social discussion and gradually apply the counting system to prevent confusion among those subject to the law. Jo Kyung-won, the lawyer of the law firm In hae, stated, “If age is not uniform in civil legal relations, various imbalances may recur, especially in the field of insurance, such as differences in premiums.” He also added, “Regarding the problem, revising the insurance terms can ease imbalance.” In short, since legal compulsion is unrealistic, insurance companies need to voluntarily revise their terms and conditions. Therefore, to induce unification of the international age, during the grace period, benefits such as tax cuts must be provided to insurance companies so that their age customization for insurance comes to an end. Through such unification, society would relieve unnecessary labor consumption and inconvenience in daily life.
-Setting Down Successfully through Gradual Change
The most realistic way to solve path dependence is through gradual settlement. Radical changes can induce citizens to feel strong rejection as a society generally prefers existing customs. The bill will start its enaction in June, after six months of the grace period; however, it may disarray society if it is applied immediately at a certain point in time. Therefore, by having three months to substantially bring the new age system to the existing age system, social costs from confusion could be minimized. Such gradual change can be done by consistently fixing inconveniences over a longer period. In the case of China, which previously utilized the counting age like Korea, it introduced the international age system in 1912. However, in real life, the complete shift to the new system lasted until the 1960s due to path dependence. As China needed more than 50 years to settle into the new method, the three-month grace period in Korea can prevent temporary confusion. Also, lawmakers should consistently listen to the voices of the people and lead changes when needed. By recognizing how settling a new age system into daily life takes a long time, successful results with gradual changes can be made.
The unification of age systems has been discussed for a long time. As a result, the law will be implemented on the 28th of this month, but with loopholes in its enactment. With no intact unification of the counting method and consideration of the underlying path dependence in Korean society, the process can be seen as an unkind introduction to many citizens. As much as the law is in the early stages of implementation, the SKT hopes that members of society, including Kingos will pay attention to the introduction of the law, and how it gradually unfolds in our daily lives.