When you ask a Korean their age...

When you ask a Korean their age, you will often times be a bit puzzled when I girl who (to you) appears to be 6 tells you that she is 7 or 8. 

In Korean culture, ages are determined a bit differently than in western cultures.  First, when a Korean child is born they are considered to be a year old.  This reasoning for this is that Koreans count the time that the child spent in the womb as one year of life.  The second thing that Koreans do that is different in regard to age is that everyone has the same birthday, New Year's Day (as of right now I do not know if this is on the New Year's Day of the sun calendar or New Year's Day of the lunar calendar- I will have to check that).  The reason for this is because Koreans want their people to have a good sense of community.  In order to prevent a more closeness among its society, everyone has the same birthday.

So, for example, if a Korean child was born on New Years Eve they would be 2 years old by New Years day because they are considered one year at birth and then one additional year at the start of the new year.