A selective online game shutdown for youth will take effect in July after a month-long test next month, the culture ministry said Thursday, as it accelerates its bid to ease online addiction among young students.
Under the selective shutdown system, teens under the age of 16 will be banned from accessing highly addictive online game sites from midnight to 6 a.m., ministry officials said.
Online game sites run directly by small and medium-sized companies and offering educational content will be excluded from the shutdown.
According to the ministry, 87 percent of the nation's 100 most popular online game sites will be subject to the curfew.
The shutdown system has been introduced to help combat teenagers' addiction to games following a series of tragic incidents involving teens, ranging from deaths of restless gamers to matricide blamed on excessive gaming.
The system is based on a gaming sites' identification process that requires users to log in to access the services, during which their birth year is automatically supplied to the operator. (Yonhap)