The Ministry of Government Legislation said on Monday that the nation will implement the new age-counting system from Wednesday according to revisions to the Civil Act and the General Act on Public administration.

Under the revisions, an individual's administrative age will be determined based on their birth date, which will be applied to laws, contracts and official documents. 

A newborn baby will now be counted as zero year old and infants' age will be measured in months until they turn one year old. 

Unlike the internationally recognized standard method, a newborn baby is one year old at birth and gains one year on every New Year’s Day under the "Korean age system."

In a separate method - the "counting age" - a person's age is calculated from zero at birth and a year is added on January 1.

South Koreans are set to become one or two years younger on official papers with the changes.

Scrapping the Korean age system was one of the campaign pledges of President Yoon Suk-yeol.