Son Heung-min: Why Spurs star is now officially one year younger in South Korea | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min has become one year younger overnight after South Korea officially scrapped its traditional method of counting the ages of their citizens.

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Before a new law came into existence, South Korea’s method of counting age saw those being introduced into the world deemed as a one-year-old at birth.

Every person in the country would then become another year older on January 1, which meant babies born in December would become two years old, despite only being up to a month old.

Although South Korea did begin to use the internationally known system of viewing a newborn’s age as zero for medical and legal documents, Reuters confirm that their national system was used for every other purpose.

In place since the 1960s, the newly elected president of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol elected for a change in the law last December.

When he ran for office last year, he stated that their current system was causing “unnecessary social and economic costs”.

Effective Wednesday 28 June 2023, new legislation means that the country will now use international methods of counting age.

As the new rule was passed into law, South Korea’s Minister of Government Legislation Lee Wan-kyu stated: “We expect legal disputes, complaints and social confusion that have been caused over how to calculate ages will be greatly reduced.”

Will the changes affect Son's Tottenham registration?

Son has been one of Spurs' most important players since joining in 2015, registering 145 goals and 80 assists in 372 games across all competitions.

He helped them on their surprising journey to the 2019 Champions League final and won the Premier League Golden Boot award in the 2021/22 season.

Tottenham fans will be pleased to know, then, that his change in age won't affect his registration in any way.

Per The Mirror, the north London club will not have to alter any of his registration documents as the club are only required to provide the Premier League board with a verified date of birth and not an actual age.

Son Heung-min dismisses interest from Saudi Arabia

The Spurs frontman has been subject of much interest from clubs overseas, particularly in respect of clubs in the Middle East as the Saudi Pro League continues its huge spending spree on European talent.

Al-Ittihad, in particular, had reportedly been keen on signing Son, following their high-profile acquisitions of French duo Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante.

They had been preparing to launch a £51m bid for the player in the coming weeks, per The Daily Mail.

Son, though, has rejected the idea of leaving Hotspur Way.

“I am not ready to go to that league and I like the Premier League,” he said.

“I have more things to accomplish in the Premier League. Money is not the most important thing to me right now. What is more important is the pride of playing in the league I love. I still have more things to do in the Premier League. I guess the [Spurs] fans will love me for saying this.”