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[HBO] New Documentary: Korean gamer couple’s 3-month-old starved while they cared for virtual child

July 25, 2014

HBO documentary to premier July 28

[PEOPLE] Plenty has been made of South Korea’s fixation with online culture, most visible in the marathon sessions of games like Starcraft.

But a new HBO documentary is focusing on a different aspect of the country’s gaming culture: The death of one couple’s 3-month-old baby from malnutrition in 2009 while they played an online game in six-to-12-hour binges.

The horrible irony of the story? The game they were playing involved caring for a virtual child.

Kim Jae-beom and his wife Kim Yun-jeong were arrested and charged for their neglect, and the couple’s real-life child, Sarang, provides the name for the HBO documentary, Love Child, airing July 28. (Sarang means “love” in Korean.) [READ MORE]

 

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