Couple Raising 'Virtual Child' Leave Real Child to Die

Maybe they can get a virtual death penalty. This is just sick.

A computer-addicted couple let their real life baby starve to death while they raised a virtual daughter online, police said today.

The couple spent 12 hours a night at internet cafes while their three-month-old daughter was left home alone at their apartment in Suwon, South Korea. They were arrested today.

Police said they had become hooked on living online and were raising an avatar daughter through their profiles on a Second Life-style game called PRIUS.

The multi-role playing game allows users to choose a job, interact with others in the virtual world and earn an extra avatar to nurture once they reach a certain level.

Father Kim Yoo-chul, 41, and mother Choi Mi-sun, 25, called police when they returned from one overnight, 12-hour session and found their daughter dead.

'They called in last September to report that they found their daughter dead after coming back home in the morning,' Detective Chung Jin-Won of the Suwon Seobu Police Station said.

'They had spent 12 hours, all night at a PC bang (a Korean internet café)'.

Officers became suspicious of how severely dehydrated the child was and have charged the couple with child abuse and neglect.

An autopsy confirmed she died of malnourishment.

Police said the Kims had become so obsessed with the daughter they were raising online that they appeared to have not taken their responsibility to their real daughter seriously.

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