Why Heung Min Son Turned a Year Younger After Change in South Korea’s Age Laws

• Heung-min Son officially turned a year younger last week
• This was a result of a change in South Korea's way of counting its citizen's age
• His official age as captured by the Premier League will, however, remain unaffected

In all the crazy stories you have heard before, I bet you have never heard of someone turning a year younger. Birthday celebrations are often marked to signify one turning a year older.

But in South Korea, the reverse happened after the country did away with its traditional and usual way of counting ages.

Before the change in laws last week, South Korea often deemed an infant to be one year at birth. The nine-month gestation period was often considered and included in the child's age.

South Korea's age laws

Additionally, every South Korean always turned a year older on January 1, irrespective of the month you were born in. This essentially meant that a child born in, let's say, late December easily became two years old on January 1.

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The country has, however, decided to stick with the international way of counting ages, where an infant is 0 years at birth and the age increases by one annually on the day the child was born. As ESPN reports, this law was passed in December by Yoon Suk Yeol, but it was officially put into use on Wednesday last week.

As a result, every South Korean, including the country's arguably brightest football product Heung-min Son, turned a year or two years younger last week.

Is Son's age affected internationally?

More specifically for Son and Spurs, they will not have to submit a new age to the Premier League after the change in South Korean laws, given that the Premier League often takes the date of birth, and not age, when registering a player, as captured by GOAL.

Son was born on July 8, 1992, and according to the worldwide known way of counting ages, he is 30 years old. He turns 31 in a few days' time. But in the eyes of his country's laws before the latest change, the pacy winger was 31 years and thus turned a year younger last week.

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Son shuts out Saudi Arabia transfer

Sports Brief had earlier reported that Son Heung Min has ended speculation about a potential move to Saudi Arabia with a concise statement about his future.

The South Korean superstar was not in his best form for Spurs in the 2022/23 season, leading to talks that perhaps his time in the Premier League could end.

Reports in recent weeks suggested Son was attracting interest from Saudi Arabia, with Al-Ittihad being the club more likely to move for the 30-year-old.