they should be executed and kicked into a ditch, covered with lime - done.

You know what, I just can't stand to read the news anymore. What is wrong with people. This breaks my heart. The couple should be thrown in jail permanently.

They should be put in solitary confinement, fed once a day, and be allowed to starve from prolonged malnutrition. Despicable.

they both should be starved to death

I think throwing them in jail is just soo easy for them .. they need to be starved to death .. they need to feel what that baby must have felt .. what are lawmakers doing showing any mercy to these irresponsible parents ... dont even feel like using word "parents" for them .. they are such an insult to word parents. I am in tears just reading this. Disgusting.

Those two heartless should be put in jail and let them starve to death.

I do not even want to begin imagine the pain and suffering that baby must have gone through. I have no feelings for these neglectful parents. I wonder how their society has responded.

UHG! I'm shaking my frail head in disbelief...

Any idea what their penalty (jail time) will be? There is not a punishment strong enough for these disgusting human beings.

there is no excuse...NONE.....

I wouldn't leave my domesticated pets without food for a day....or my houseplants without water for a week. How in the name of anything that is decent can one let a helpless infant - their blood or not - painfully whither away like that?

my heart breaks at the inhumanity of humans, especially for those who have no chance to protect themselves. South Korea is not a 3rd world, ignorant society.

There are lots of sick and evil people in the world, but not as many as the media might give you the impression of.

Bad news and evil people get a disproportional amount of attention, because bad news is more interesting, and bad news is more interesting because it's less common.

With billions of people in the world, this type of misdeed is bound to happen, but with billions of people in the world, it is only a minuscule fraction of humanity.

They had to go all the way to Korea to get this story. It's not someone just around the corner.

good GOD. this is HORRIFYING! there are no words.

Would serve them right if while they waste away in prison, /b/ hacks into their Prius account, and starves their "perfect virtual daughter" to death.

If they get the prison time they deserve for murder, I suppose their characters and "daughter" will "die" anyway.

Zero excuse for starving their child to death. If they'd stopped playing 12 hours a day online, they could have spent all that time and effort pursuing work/learning a new profession/caring for their child

Culture or not. Internet should not be put to blame for the parents' stupidity.
A game should be enjoyed, not to be obsessed and addicted on. what is wrong with these people. Don't they even think that they are lucky to have a daughter in the first place??? Think of how many other couples who cant even get a child of their own! Shameful people, I feel like throwing rocks at them!

a long time ago it was common for babies in Korea to die in infancy, no one outside of the immediate family circle is supposed to see a newborn for 100 days. (The hundred-day mark is celebrated with a big party called a baek-il.)

Mark: Your assertion that things like this don't happen around the corner from us is so far off the mark as to be frightening. It does happen and far more often than the news reports, as I'm sure many a DCF worker could attest to.

As to the column itself...I only wish that I could say I was surprised or horrified. But I'm neither. The fact is, we as a species (not as a culture) tend to view infants, toddlers, and children as second-class or even non-class citizens. They are a by-product that causes financial strain; in many cases unwanted; cast aside for other pursuits or treated as a commodity. It's disgusting but it's also very telling...

It tells us who we are as a species. It tells me that we're not so far removed from the rest of our scientific kingdom's denizens as we would like to believe.

Okay I just looked it up on the internet and found this....

"a long time ago it was common for babies in Korea to die in infancy, no one outside of the immediate family circle is supposed to see a newborn for 100 days. (The hundred-day mark is celebrated with a big party called a baek-il.)"

So this is really a story about how traditions have been broken.

What???!!! Mothers -- those secular saints -- neglecting their children. I don't believe it!!!

The 100-day tradition doesn't happen anymore in Korea.
Now when someone is giving birth, family and friends are at the hospital to support the birth of a new child. Nowadays everyone posts pictures of their newborns online for family and friends to see.

Internet Addiction?
Oh, please.

Did the Internet play a significant role in the death of the baby? These folks left the baby at home regularly while they went to an Internet cafe.

What if instead they left the baby at home while they worked at a factory job? Would that be an assembly line addiction?

they need 2 b thrown n jail and throw away the key then let them take care of their baby online and not fed them and show how their real baby felt

Is it limited just for this case? Honestly, many of us avoid our responsiblity while we are addicted internet. How can we handle it?

It is not about the internet. It is about incompetent parents living in a parallel world -- read today's article about the Riley family. (the 4 year old girl who died due to overmedication). The mother was found guilty and the father is on trial now. The day the child died, and the cops were at his house, the father was more worried about some change that was missing from his house. THe daughter lay dead on the floor near his bed. See what I mean -- it is not about the internet or anything else. It is about people who SHOULD NOT be parents under any circumstances due to whatever illness or incompetence. sheesh, there should be a license to have children.

Lylah, thanks for at least trying to understand the couple and showing some compassion to these parents who clearly needed help. I agree that there has to be more to it. In Korea, a whole family would be more involved than is traditional here in the US. Where were they and where was social work (it seems that the stress of having a preemie would qualify a family for followup...)?

Nevermind Korea! I'm surprised this didn't happen in the United States!

I agree with everybody else that thinks those people should be starved to death. What they did was horrible!!!!! I have a 7mo old and I cannot imagine not feeding her. She screams like crazy if her bottle is 5 minutes late... Can you imagine this poor preemie crying and crying and nobody to hug and feed him? uhhh!! Just starve the parents!

Oh my god this is so awful... they need to be starved to death to see what it was like for her... I can't even read the news anymore... what's this world coming to?

First, let's start with a 41 year old man and his 25 year old partner! Hmm... Korean society is very close knit. Where were the families, the neighbors, the pediatrician?
Has anyone stopped to think that this poor baby was premature due to her parent's lifestyle habits?!
What is really distrurbing is that a "study" of only 50 women is rolled out in an attempt to explain the mother's sociopathic behavior. 'It's a cultural thing-so it must be OK?! Yes, so isn't canibalism in some societies-is that OK, too? I am a researcher and 50 women is hardly a study - and how a journal-an international journal at that-- could publish this drivel is beyond me. No doubt this 'research' will be trotted out in her defense. Oh, and yes, they also internet addicts and unemployed. It sounds like they hired an American defense attorney!
That being said, how about creating something to really be ashamed about. Put their pictures on every TV news report, newspaper and publication in Korea or published in Korean worldwide. Show pictures of THEIR parents, siblings and other relatives who did nothing to rescue this baby-Don't forget to include their home addresses and occupations, too. Then you will really see the cultural shame factor kick in.

Finally, ship the parents of the year to North Korea to spend life doing hard labor in a prison camp.

Bambinosmom - The article didn't mention the study to prove that 'It's a cultural thing so it must be okay'. If you're a researcher, you should know better than to read it that way. Explanations for behavior, 'sociopathic' or not, are important if we want to learn anything! Of COURSE it doesn't make it okay, but when we have horrible events like this, it helps to understand human behavior, so that we can try to make sure it doesn't happen again! Granted, 50 subjects is not a great sample, but journals publish case studies and small studies like this as a way to point out possible areas that need more attention. It signals the research community that bigger and better studies need to be done. In this case, that research should be used to say 'Hey, there might be some emotional problems related to having premature babies in Korea. Let's get these families some counseling, maybe some follow-up appointments and make sure they're doing okay.'

These parents are clearly disturbed. This goes way beyond internet addiction, as others have said. There are some deep psychological issues going on, and it is a real shame they weren't getting the psychiatric help they should have been. Maybe if someone had realized how mentally ill they were sooner, the baby wouldn't have died.

Thanks for commenting, Bamninosmom, but the entire point of my post is to point out that blaming "internet addiction" isn't enough in this case, and that there are other factors, some cultural, to consider. -- LMA

I completely agree with psychmom. This goes beyond internet adiction. Both parents were clearly disturbed and in serious need of psychological therapy. That poor little angel didn't deserve to suffer that way. Perhaps the purpose of her brief life could be to raise awereness and save the life of other babies in similar situations.

People like them don't deverse to have kids!!! A poor innocent baby dies helplessly without even had a chance to experience any love and care all babies deserve.

This couple need to suffer for what they've done!

Send them into North Korea...done! LOL

this is disgusting, instead of just straight out starving them, lets see a newborn eats every what 3-4 hours, so, 8-12 times a day depending, that baby got one out of 12 feedings, so every 12th meal a normal person would have feed them just a little. one day in the life of a baby is like 4 in the life of an adult. feed them once every four days, let them stay alive and suffer longer. three month old baby, keep them alive for as close to a year as possible, feeding them once out of every 12 meals. THATS what the baby went through. restrain them too, make them feel everything that baby felt, let them lay in their pee and poo all day, make it so they can't get up and move, hell put a diaper on them so a rash forms with the urine soaking in BURNING them. do everything that baby had to go through. let them scream with no one answering their cries, let them only see a human face for a few seconds during feeding then leave them to wonder when they wil ever see a person again. these people are pigs. i don't care about the internet. i mean why couldn't they bring the baby with them to the cafe if they had to play that bad? at least maybe someone would have noticed it's cries for help. the parents could have fed it and cared for it while they played. i play on the computer a lot but my baby sits by me and watches movies, plays with toys, and i make sure that no matter what i'm doing i stop for the hour of every meal and make sure she gets her fill. if she wants milk, i get her milk and play with her. if she comes over and wnts to play with me i put the computer daon and play with her. i'm young, i still like games, but i would NEVER put attention to a game above my child. i don't play everyday, this is just when i do. it's usually the evenings when i do, and she is going to bed. she gets a bath everyother day, she eats 3 full meals a day and gets snacks inbetween. i'm a single mom and i'm going better then two parents.

i'm sorry to have to go on but this is disgusting and my mother had the gall to say she thought i might do the same. even after my child is in bed, i set my games aside to check on her. she is 17 months old, weighs a health 24 pounds( extra chubby thighs, and a big head) and she couldn't be a more cheery child. she is mine and i will always put her first. A COMPUTER CAN NOT LOVE YOU BACK

wow i love my kids more than a computer take care of you child they are evil

Some things that the parents lost or wasted
1) the baby
2) their money ( because of the Internet Cafe or is it just free?)
3)Social life
4)their rights to taking care of a child
Some things that they have now
1) exposed to the news
2) 2 years of custody
3)a broken family
4) a new home (Jail)

such irresponsible parents!! when i learned about this news i got so mad... i cant belive it! the parents of the child must be sentence to life long imprisonment!