December is here, and that means that the New Year is fast approaching. All around the world, this is an occasion of new beginnings and exciting possibilities. For our Bellevue Korean restaurant, however, it means something more: this is the day when everyone in Korea advances their age forward one year.

Indeed, South Korea measures a person’s age differently from most of the rest of the world. Visitors to the country are often confused to find that they are considered to be between one and two years older than they are accustomed to. This is because, to Korea, your age is a measurement of how many calendar years you have lived in rather than how many years have passed since you were born. Under this system, once a child is born, he or she is already considered to be one. When the child sees his or her first New Year’s Day, he or she becomes two. Therefore, if you were to have a baby on New Year’s Eve, Korea would identify your baby as two the very next day!