Approximately four percent of Korean teenage students are at risk of Internet addiction, but the number is on the decline, a government survey showed Wednesday.
The survey of 1.74 million students in three age brackets of 11, 14 and 17 found that 68,044 of them, or 3.9 percent, risk becoming addicted to Internet use, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said in a statement.
Of those 68,044 "at-risk" students, nearly 25 percent, or 16,714, were categorized as being at "high risk" of Internet addiction, according to the survey conducted between March and April this year.
The total number of teens at risk of Internet addition declined, however.
The number of students aged 11 judged to be at risk of obsessive Internet use was 19,714 this year, down 14,667 from 2010.
The number of at-risk students aged 14 and 17 also declined by 8,866 and 11,482, respectively.
A ministry official attributed the decline to a "growing social awareness of Internet addition."
Korea is one of the world's most wired nations with almost all homes linked with high-speed Internet connections. (Yonhap)