Internet-addict couple starve baby to death

A South Korean couple neglected their own child while spending 12-hour days on the role-playing game Prius Online.

A South Korean couple who were addicted to the internet let their three-month-old baby starve to death while raising a virtual daughter online.

The pair fed their own premature baby just once a day in between 12-hour stretches at an internet cafe, the BBC reported.

Police officer Chung Jin-won told the official Yonhap news agency that the couple "lost their will to live a normal life" after losing their jobs.

He said they "indulged themselves online" to escape from reality.

The 41-year-old man and his 25-year-old wife were arrested in Suweon, south of Seoul, earlier this week - five months after they reported the death of their baby.

An autopsy found her death had been caused by an extended period of malnutrition.

Police said the couple became obsessed with nurturing a virtual girl called Anima in the role-playing game Prius Online.

Players interact with Anima and as they do so, help her to recover her lost memory and develop emotions.

- NZHERALD STAFF