Starting Tomorrow, Age Decreases by One Year... What Changes with 'Man Age'?

Full Age Standardization Act Enforced on 28th
Changes in Naver and Daum Search Portals
Excluding Alcohol, Tobacco Purchases, and Military Service Obligations

From tomorrow (the 28th), the age of all citizens will be reduced by 1 or 2 years.

With the implementation of the unified international age system, changes will occur in internet services such as Naver and Kakao. However, the age for alcohol and tobacco consumption will continue to be based on the current calendar age. How will things change?

[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 27th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) announced that from the next day, the legal and social age standards will be unified to the international age, but the youth age under the Youth Protection Act will remain unchanged, so the age for purchasing alcohol and tobacco will not change.

According to the current Youth Protection Act, a youth is defined as "a person under the age of 19, excluding those who have reached January 1 of the year they turn 19." Therefore, based on this year, regardless of birthday, those born in 2004 or earlier are recognized as adults and can purchase alcoholic beverages and tobacco.

The youth age standard was established to guarantee social and educational activities for those considered adults by social convention, such as university students and working youth, and the same standard has been applied since 2001.

Additionally, elementary school enrollment age, military service obligations, and civil service exam eligibility will not apply the international age for the time being, considering the difficulties in on-site management.

Search portals will see changes related to age information. Naver will improve its "Age Calculator" search service to provide both calendar age and international age, while Daum will provide only the age in its person search information.

Kakao, which previously provided both international and calendar ages simultaneously, will now provide only the age in person search.

The Ministry of Government Legislation noted that all countries except Korea use the international age system and viewed aligning with international standards as effective.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.