A Korean friend who recently came to the U.S. to study English told me something interesting last night, perhaps a reason why older KADs find that they are actually older or their date of birth is different than what is listed on their birth certificates.
It seems that older people in Korea (but those young enough to have been issued a birth certificate) have birth certificates with dates that are not their actual date of birth, but instead use the date of application for the certificate.
My friend said Korea now uses the actual date of birth for the certificates, but that wasn't the case when she was young -- she's 38. The date on her birth certificate is not her date of birth, and her Korean passport also lists her birth certificate date, which is a few months later than her date of birth. She even knows a woman whose birth certificate date is two years off.
So what about all those KADs who do happen to have a birth certificate from Korea among their limited paperwork and records? Is the information they have completely misleading, inaccurate? What about all those KADs who search for birth families with what they believe to be their date of birth, one of the few bits of information used to help in searching?
Added note: I forgot to mention the use of lunar dates for birthdays in Korea. Another twist to figuring out birthdays for KADs.
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Hm. Hadn't heard that before, but that would stand to reason. Just another obstacle to do battle with for solving the mystery of our births.
I was already recently reading about how building numbers and street names have not been "conventionally" used in Korea (according, of course, to Western convention), and how confusing it is for foreigners who wish to look up a location based on an address. No wonder I've heard so many stories about people wandering around for hours in Seoul, cab drivers driving in circles, people giving out different sets of directions for a single location.
Between the birth dates and the wild-goose-chase addresses, it's a wonder anyone ever finds their birth families.
My supposed birthday is one month earlier than my real birthday. It was reported as my lunar birthday, and therefore my real birthday was later. I tried to explain this to my parents, who didn't believe me, and said my birth mom must have made a mistake.
ARGH! A mom always remembers her child's birthday.
Ji-in is right, no wonder there are problems with finding birth parents.
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