A father was allegedly too busy playing video games to save his 2-year-old son's life, South Korean police said Monday.
Yonhap News confirmed that Chung (last name available only), 22, confessed to causing his son's death. Since February, he ignored his child for a total of 10 days. Chung found his son dead March 7, but didn't dispose of the body (using a trash bag) until April 11. He buried his son in a flower garden about a mile from his house in Daegu, the country's fourth largest city located southeast of Seoul.
On Sunday, Chung initially reported the baby missing to police, but then later admitted to negligence.
Chung's wife, whom he met via an online game while still in high school, was living apart from him due to financial difficulties. She got a job working at a factory, and moved into the factory dorms, leaving Chung with their son.
When Chung's wife asked where their baby was, he said the child was at a babysitter's.
Daegu city police state that Chung would spend his days and nights at Internet cafes, playing online games, only checking on his son every two to three days to feed him, and then go right back to another PC bang (net cafe) or a sauna house.
Kukinews reported that Chung, who is unemployed, was playing "League of Legends" and "Sudden Attack" while his son was dying.
Chung's family told local police that he was "addicted to video games," according to The Wall Street Journal, but Daegu officers didn't confirm whether he had been diagnosed by psychologists.
This is not the first case in which video games overruled good parenting. In 2010, a couple let their three-month-old starve to death while they played video games, blaming the death on their lack of parenting knowledge.
Last year South Korea introduced to parliament an anti-addiction law to limit gaming advertisements, among other things.
