Couple face trial for starving baby while raising virtual one

A South Korean couple appeared in court Friday accused of letting their baby starve to death while they raised a virtual child on the internet.

The pair went on the run in September after their three-month-old daughter was found dead after suffering a long period of malnutrition.

They were arrested in March and charged with negligent homicide. 

Investigators say the man, aged 41, and his wife, 25, spent their days in an internet café bringing up a virtual character in the game Prius Online and only fed their daughter once a day.

The government of South Korea estimates that the country has about two million web addicts.  It plans to offer software to people who are vulnerable to overdoing it online.

One of the applications makes games harder over time so  that users get bored. Last month a 32-year-old man died after apparently playing computer games for five days.