Gamer's Death Sparks Concern in S.Korea
SEOUL, South Korea -- Keyboard and mouse in hand, he battled until nearly his last breath. The death of Lee, a 28-year-old man identified only by his last name who passed away earlier this month after nearly 50 straight hours of playing online computer games, has South Korea concerned about the health of the millions of gamers in the world's most wired country.
Many of South Korea's 17 million gamers regularly stroll into Internet cafes, the $1-per-hour hangout popular among young South Koreans, and camp out in front of monitors to play for hours - and even sometimes days or longer.
"I've seen people who play games for months, just briefly going home for a change of clothing, taking care of all their eating and sleeping here," said Jun Mung-gyu, 27, who runs an Internet cafe in southeastern Seoul.
More than 70 percent of South Korea's population of 48 million uses the Internet, and the country has the highest per-capita rate of broadband connections in the world. With all that access has come the rising problem of Internet addiction.
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http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=219539
