Korean Minors to Be Banned from Playing Online Games Late at Night

The recent bill, which prohibits the Korean minors aged below 16
from entering and playing online games late at night, was discussed and
put to a vote in a conference held in South Korea's parliament hall on
April 20, 2011, and was finally approved unanimously. From the
perspective of the current situation, the bill will come into effect in
October (6 months later) at latest.



The bill was heatedly discussed by relevant authorities
in the past month, but ran aground owing to greatly different opinions.
Officers of South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
also thought it necessary to clearly define online games. However, this
was refuted bitterly and irrationally by some people from the Ministry of Gender Equality & Family, which gave birth to lots of game industry workers' dissatisfaction.

Anyway, after a certain time of intermediation, the bill
is to take effect. It will be made applicable to online games for 2
years first, and then to mobile phone games 2 years later.

"...mobile phone games 2 years later."

All the way to mobile phone?! that's gotta suck real bad

ya glad i am not in korea when i am a minor heh

actually if a kid do not wish to sleep.they still wont sleep even if u ban them from gaming.

too many ppl are night owl nowadays ^^

As the Amendment to the Law on the Protection of Teenagers
will be presented to South Korea's parliament on April 28, South
Korea's teenager rights groups and cultural association have expressed
their opposition to the teenager-oriented gaming restrictions through
two rounds of discussion, and a new round will be conducted on April 27.

Hongik University


The new round of discussion, to be carried out in Hongik
University on April 27, will focus on the invalidity & illegality
of the teenager-oriented gaming restrictions, on the basis of the past
two rounds themed by "problems in the gaming restrictions applicable to
teenagers" and "criticisms of the teenager-oriented gaming
restrictions".

Several professors from Ajou University, some teenager
representatives and the game developer Kim Jong Dae will join the
discussion and voice their opinions centering around the invalidity
& illegality of the gaming restrictions, the harmfulness of games,
etc.

Ajou University


On April 21, seven teenager rights groups in South Korea
also voiced their dissatisfaction with the introduction of the
teenager-oriented gaming restrictions.