AAE Chronology - Birthdates and Birthdays
	Two key events in the AAE chronology are the birthdays of Sun-Mi and Young-Mi. For readers who are not aware of the unique method used in Korea for determining a person's age, a brief description follows:
	Korean versus Western age calculation (source: www.wikipedia.com) Koreans generally refer to their age in units called "sal" (살), using Korean numerals in ordinal form. Thus, a person is one sal during the first calendar year of life, and ten sal during the tenth calendar year. Although not quite accurate, the common explanation is that the gestation period is counted as a person's first year of life. The 100th-day anniversary of a baby is called "baegil" (백일), which literally means "a hundred days" in Korean, and is given a special celebration, marking the survival of what was once a period of high infant mortality. The first anniversary of birth named dol (돌) is likewise celebrated, and given even greater significance. Koreans celebrate their birthdays, even though every Korean gains one 'sal' on New Year's Day. Because the first year comes at birth and the second on the first day of the lunar New Year, a child born, for example, on December 29 (of the lunar calendar) will reach two years of age on Seolnal (Korean New Year), when they are only days old in western reckoning. In modern Korea, the traditional system is most often used, even when talking to non-Koreans. The international age system is referred to as "man-nai" (만 meaning "full", 나이 meaning "age"). For example, "man yeol sal" means "full ten years", or "ten years old". The Korean word "dol" means years elapsed, like English "years old," but is only used for the first few birthdays. Cheot-dol or simply dol refers to the first Western-equivalent birthday, du-dol refers to the second, and so on.  Most Koreans celebrate their birthday by the lunar calendar instead of the Gregorian. The Lunar birthday is called '음력 생일'(Eumryeok saeng-il) and '양력 생일'(Yangryeok saeng-il) is the Gregorian calendar birthday. For official government uses, documents, and legal procedures, a chronological age system is used akin to the system used in Western countries. Regulations regarding age limits on alcohol and tobacco use, as well as the age of consent, are all based on the chronological system (man-nai).
	Young-Mi's birthday  - February 29 In Episode 05, during Young-Mi's second year in University, after the University Broadcasting Festival, Woo-Jin sees a calendar with February 29 marked as her birthday. That day only exists in leap years. He says it is two days away. Only a portion of the calendar is visible, so the actual day of the week is ambiguous; it could be Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. In 2000, the year AAE was produced, the 29th was on a Tuesday. In 1996, the date fell on a Thursday. On her birthday cake, Young-Mi puts two tall candles to symbolize 20 years. Therefore she must use international counting for her age, and is 21 (Korean). With the first year established as 1995, it follows that this birthday happened in 1996, and that Young-Mi was born on February 29, 1976.
	Sun-Mi's birthday -- "0-6-0-7" In Episode 16, Hyung-Chul tells Young-Mi his briefcase combination is "0-6-0-7", his best friend's birthday. Woo-Jin confirms this date is Sun-Mi's birthday. In Episode 13, Sun-Mi invited Hyung-Chul for her birthday thus:  "I was a little embarrassed so I didn't mean to say it but ... You know, this Saturday is my birthday." Sun-Mi's birthday cake has 2 tall and 5 short candles, indicating her 25th birthday. Since Sun-Mi is in the same class as Young-Mi we can assume that she is the same age and was born in 1976. In Episode 03, during her summer English class, Sun-Mi said her age was 20. This happened the year before Young-Mi's 20th birthday in 1996, when Sun-Mi was 19 by the international method of calculation, the same age as Young-Mi that year. If she uses her traditional Korean age even though speaking to non-Koreans, it is also likely she would use the traditional method on her cake, too, so her 25th birthday (Korean) would fall in 2000 (year 1976 + 24). Does "0-6-0-7" refer to June 7 or July 6? The story provides some evidence to determine the answer: Immediately after her birthday, Sun-Mi goes on a field assignment to cover the 18th Ulsan Theatre Festival, an actual festival held in Ulsan from June 01-17, 2000 and shown later in the episode. Also, Hyung-Chul states that the pearl on the anklet is Sun-Mi's 'lucky stone', or birthstone. Although there are several methods for designating birthstones, pearl is commonly considered the birthstone for June. So the likely date for Sun-Mi's birth is June 7, 1976. The problem with this date is that in 2000, June 7 fell on Wednesday, not Saturday -- the day Sun-Mi told Hyung-Chul was her birthday. Such an obvious contradiction in the script is hard to dismiss as a simple error by the writer, although given all numerous mistakes in the script it is a possibility. This discrepancy has led to much discussion and a number of theories to explain it, several of which are included below: ●   1) June 7, 2000 is the actual date that Episode 13 (depicting Sun-Mi's birthday celebration) was broadcast, making "0-6-0-7" in Episode 16 an inside reference to the previous broadcast date. As a result, there is no need to reconcile the date and the weekday for her birthday. ●   2) June 7, 1997 fell on Saturday. This theory is that the screenplay was originally written for an earlier production date in 1997, a possibility supported by several other references in the dialog. When the production was delayed to 2000, the date in the script was not updated. For this theory, there is also no need to reconcile the date and the weekday for her birthday. ●   3) Sun-Mi uses the international method for calculating birthdays, and she was 25 (26 Korean) in 1997, when June 7 was a Saturday. This sets her birth in 1972, a leap year consistent with Young-Mi's leap-year birth. However, this would move the first year back to 1991, making this theory inconsistent with much other evidence. ●   4) 0-6-0-7 (Month 6, Day 7) is the lunar date of Sun-Mi's birth. The equivalent lunar day in 2000 falls on Saturday, July 08, and the equivalent solar date for Sun-Mi's birth is July 03, 1976. Using a birthstone assignment related to the zodiac, not the month, pearl is one of the stones for Cancer (June 22 - July 22). Some also suggest if Sun-Mi was born a Cancer instead of a Gemini, it would better fit her personality. However, this contradicts the dates for the Ulsan Theatre Festival. ●   5) "Old-fashioned" Sun-Mi celebrates her birthdays by the lunar calendar. Her solar birth date of 0-6-0-7 (Monday 07 June 1976) is equivalent to lunar Month 5 Day 10. (See the Table below for equivalent solar calendar days for years within the AAE timeframe.) In 2000, Sun-Mi's lunar birthday fell on Sunday, June 11. But as she must travel to Ulsan that day to report on the Theatre Festival, she plans her date with Hyung-Chul for Saturday, June 10 instead.

Equivalent Solar Dates for Lunar Month 5 Day 10

Year	Korean Age	Equivalent solar date	Year	Korean Age	Equivalent solar date
1976	01	June 07, Monday	1998	23	June 04, Thursday
1995	20	June 07, Wednesday	1999	24	June 23, Wednesday
1996	21	June 25, Tuesday	2000	25	June 11, Sunday
1997	22	June 14, Saturday	2001	26	June 30, Saturday

Any of these explanations for 0-6-0-7 are possible, and the decision is ultimately up to the viewer's preference. This chronology, however, is based on the last option, that Sun-Mi celebrated her birthday on Saturday, June 10, 2000.

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