[Slade]

Courtesy of Lauren Frayer- AOL News
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Police: Baby Starved as Couple Nurtured Virtual Child

(March 5) -- A South Korean couple addicted to the Internet left their 3-month-old daughter to starve to death while they raised a virtual daughter online during 12-hour bouts at a cyber cafe, police said.

The husband and wife had been on the run since their baby, born prematurely, died five months ago of severe dehydration and malnutrition, police said. They were arrested this week near their home south of the capital Seoul and charged today with child abuse and neglect.

Police say the couple left their infant alone in their apartment and rushed back from the Internet cafe just once a day to feed her. South Korea's official Yonhap news agency first reported the arrests, quoting police.

PRIUS Online

The case highlights what experts say is as a growing trend of Internet addiction in South Korea, which has the highest broadband penetration per capita in the world. Its 24-hour cyber cafes are a mecca for online gaming. Last month, a 24-year-old man collapsed and died in an Internet cafe in the southwestern city of Kwangju after playing computer games for 86 hours straight.

The trend has grown worse with rising unemployment. In this case, police said the couple "indulged themselves online" to escape reality. "The couple seemed to have lost their will to live a normal life because they didn't have jobs and gave birth to a premature baby," police officer Chung Jin-Won told Yonhap.

The couple "raised" a virtual character called "Anima" in the popular role-playing computer game Prius Online, police said. The game, similar to Second Life, allows players to create another life for themselves in a virtual world, which includes choosing a job, interacting with other users and earning an extra avatar to nurture once they reach a certain level.

"They indulged themselves in the online game of raising a virtual character so as to escape from reality, which led to the death of their real baby," Chung said.

The couple, 41-year-old Kim Yoo-chul and his 25-year-old wife, Choi Mi-sun, also met online. It was not clear whether they had a lawyer.

[Gelst]

"They indulged themselves in the online game of raising a virtual character so as to escape from reality, which led to the death of their real baby," Chung said.

The couple, 41-year-old Kim Yoo-chul and his 25-year-old wife, Choi Mi-sun, also met online. It was not clear whether they had a lawyer.


I bet they get a virtual lawyer online...

[GigglesNpie]

41 year old dude...25 year old girl. How long have they been married? dats what i wanna know.

[odaz]

41 year old dude...25 year old girl. How long have they been married? dats what i wanna know.

only 14 years no biggie.

[BlindShooter]

*shakes head*


Letting a kid starve while you go to a cybercafe is about as shitty and stupid as I can think of - truly, I must stand up and applaud them. I thought we had reached a limit in idiocy but these brainless professional athletes just proved that with determination and dedication, stupidity conquers all obstacles of reason. They just won a platinum medal in the special Olympics. Will go great with their mugshot portrait.


For people that live close to the land of the Rising Sun, they sure fail at rising their own sons and daughters.

[Yog]

Sometimes I think an eye for an eye is a good rule. You let your child die from starvation, alone? Then you will die by starvation, alone.

[Orvidos]

Sometimes I think an eye for an eye is a good rule. You let your child die from starvation, alone? Then you will die by starvation, alone.

There are quite a few cases these days where I'm beginning to agree with that sentiment, Yog.

Though, maybe less "eye for an eye" and "capital punishment will now be: the victim will be raped to death by horny, mutant bears."

[BlindShooter]

What if the person is sick enough to derive pleasure from that?

[Orvidos]

Hmmm. Couldn't say. Don't know enough masochists to make a guess.

[Aramoro]

Just like Life without Parole, sometimes I wish there was Death without Appeal.

[BlindShooter]

The more I think about it, the more I think that the best punishment would be to make these people useful. Death penalty is 'too quick', 'too easy'.
Watch 'El Secreto de Sus Ojos' (The Secret in Their Eyes) and it is going to be clear that death can be too light of a punishment.

Nah. Make them useful, make them actually produce so that they provide back to society - ridden of the ability to quit their job, their responsibility. Make them useful even if they weren't or don't want to be. Give them a reason to remember every single day what got them there and how it forever sealed their fates. Force them to be responsible, despite what they want.

[Yog]

The more I think about it, the more I think that the best punishment would be to make these people useful. Death penalty is 'too quick', 'too easy'.
Watch 'El Secreto de Sus Ojos' (The Secret in Their Eyes) and it is going to be clear that death can be too light of a punishment.

Nah. Make them useful, make them actually produce so that they provide back to society - ridden of the ability to quit their job, their responsibility. Make them useful even if they weren't or don't want to be. Give them a reason to remember every single day what got them there and how it forever sealed their fates. Force them to be responsible, despite what they want.

The whole "death is too good for you" routine rarely works out. The only time it actually did was in the Count of Monte Cristo (and maybe the movie you listed). It often times just comes back to bite you. Just kill him and you don't have to worry about it anymore...unless there's a brother/son...then I suppose you have a sequel.

[BlindShooter]

Watch The Secret in Their Eyes. Trust me