Law Change Makes Everyone a Year or Two Younger in South Korea

[Bloomberg Shinhye Kang and Sangmi Cha] (전략) And it’s not like rolling back the clock will suddenly cut young people off from alcohol and cigarette consumption, either. Stores use calendar age and not “Korean age” to ensure someone was over 19 years old. 

“The key is when the kids are eligible to buy cigarettes,” said Gye Sang Hyuk, who’s run a convenience store just outside Seoul for 20 years. Clerks will still check the year of birth as usual, he said. 

Three-quarters of Koreans wanted the change, according to a Hankook Research poll from January 2022.

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