The Guardian reports on how 2 million South Koreans – nearly one in 10 online users – are addicted to the internet. Many spend every waking moment immersed in role-playing games, in which players form alliances to guide their characters through mythical worlds, collecting extra powers and other items as they go.

The government has responded to juvenile web addiction by spending millions of dollars on counselling centres and awareness classes for children. From September, gamers aged under 18 will be unable to access 19 popular online titles, such as Maple Story and Dragon Nest, from midnight to 8am. Those who play outside the curfew will find their characters growing weaker the longer they play.

Now, however, the government must reconcile its support for online activity with the emergence of an older generation of web addicts. While the number of teenage addicts has fallen from more than 1 million to 938,000 in the past two years, those in their 20s and 30s have risen to 975,000, with the unemployed and university students considered at greatest risk.

South Korea’s status as the world’s most wired nation gives them the technical wherewithal to fuel their addiction. The country boasts the fastest and most developed broadband network on the planet, and more than 90% of homes have high-speed internet connections.

There are almost 22,000 PC bangs – online havens where, for a small hourly fee, the real world gives way to a virtual one that some enter only to find they are unable to leave. They are the driving force behind a gaming industry worth an estimated £1.6bn and involving 30 million people.

Gee-jun, president of the Korea Computer Life Institute, says South Korea is simply going through the growing pains of becoming the world’s first fully fledged information society. And the authorities, he adds, are reluctant to stifle the county’s thriving online culture. “The government is in charge of promoting gaming, so although it has established regulations, there are no penalties if they are broken. The ministry of culture, tourism and sports has established regulations that game companies don’t have to follow.”

South Korea was reminded of the tragic consequences of gaming addiction earlier this year when a couple were found guilty of starving their baby to death while they raised a virtual child in an internet cafe. The father, Kim Jae-beom 41, was sentenced to two years in prison in May after admitting neglect of their three-month-old daughter Sa-rang – “love” in Korean – while they spent up to 12 hours a time at a PC bang playing a 3D fantasy game called Prius Online.

Access the original article online at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/13/internet-addiction-south-korea