More students head to PC rooms in morning

A new policy in Gyeonggi Province to limit the number of hours students can spend in school are having an unintended effect: the children are heading to Internet cafes instead.

The law, which went into effect this month, meant to improve the children’s lives by reducing the number of hours they spend in the classroom, by delaying the start of school to 9 a.m.

Korea is notorious for the long hours children spend at school and after-school academies. In theory, the law could create more time for sleep.

However, teenagers are using the time to hang out in Internet cafes, commonly called “PC bangs,” Yonhap News Agency reported.

"Kids come around 8 a.m. and stay for about 30 to 40 minutes," Yonhap quoted a café employee in Suwon as saying. "They're not allowed at that time but we let them come in anyway."

Korean law restricts all those under the age of 19 from entering cyber cafes from 10 p.m. and 9 a.m.