October 10 2002
A 24-year-old South Korean man died after playing computer games nonstop for 86 hours, police said yesterday.
The jobless man, identified by police only by his last name Kim, was found dead at an Internet cafe in Kwangju, 260 kilometres southwest of Seoul, they said.
Quoting witnesses, police detective Oh Myong-sik in Kwangju said the man had been virtually glued to the computer since late last Friday and had no decent sleep and meals.
The man collapsed in front of the counter early yesterday but soon regained consciousness. He then went to the toilet where he later was found dead, the police officer said.
Initial investigation ruled out the possibility of murder, police said. An autopsy was planned.
South Korea is among the world's most Internet-savvy nations with more than half of its 47 million people having access to the Internet. South Korea has some 22,000 Internet cafes, also known as PC rooms.
Many PC rooms are open 24 hours, but no minors are allowed after 10 pm.
Posted on Oct 10, 2002, 4:14 PM from IP address 4.43.254.217