“From a sociological perspective, customs are so ingrained in a society that change won’t happen overnight,” he said. “The change is desirable, but we’ll have to see.”
But other Koreans don’t see any benefit in changing the age system, or the hierarchy that underlies it. It represents more than a number, they say – it is the foundation of human connection.
“It may be exhausting to keep track of everyone’s ages, but once you build a parent-younger relationship, the bond between people blossoms more naturally,” said Chung Hae-rang, a 63-year-old retired teacher from the city of Bucheon. . , just outside of Seoul.
It also creates bonds in other ways, he said. If you change that system, he said, among freshmen for example, “there would be some who would be allowed in bars and others who wouldn’t” under the international age system. If everyone born in the same year is the same age, that problem will be solved, he added.
Cho Moon-ju, who works for a university in Seoul, also said the Korean system increases camaraderie between people — even strangers — born in the same year. That’s how she got in touch with other parents at her kids’ schools, said Ms. Cho, who opposes Mr. Yoon’s plan to change the system.
Strangers born in the same year may also assume they have experienced similar difficulties, she said.
For example, she recalled one of the most devastating disasters in South Korea: the 2014 accident in which nearly 300 high school students drowned on a ferry. “When you realize that you and someone you just met were both in 11th grade when the Sewol ferry sank,” she said, “share your common, deep feelings.”
