In South Korea, Parents to Be Alerted When Kids Receive Texts With Curse WordsAiming to clamp down on cyber bullying, the South Korean government will introduce a service that notifies parents if their children receive a text containing foul language.

ByGeoff Weiss

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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South Korea's quest to becomethe most wired nation on the planethas come at an irretrievable cost to the country's digital-addicted youth.

Whereasinternet detox boot campsstarted opening their doors to hooked teens as far back as 2007, several South Korean gamers have reportedly died from organ failure due touninterrupted play for days on end. In one tragically twisted case, a married couple became so deeply immersed in a game about taking care of a virtual infant that their actual baby starved to death.

It's no surprise that within this hotly-connected landscape, cyberbullying is proliferating at alarming rates -- particularly via instant-message. A new form of intimidation has even infiltrated South Korea's schools: "cyber imprisonment," whereby tormenters invite their victims into a chat room and harass them within the confines there.

Related:Gangnam: The Silicon Valley of South Korea

And so the South Korean government is clamping down: a brand new servicewill notify parentswhenever their children receive text messages containing curse words. The country's ministry of education toldThe Wall Street Journalthat the initiative would be operational in July.

Sadly, cyber bullying is no stranger to American shores, where a rash of suicides in recent years has brought the issue to the national forefront.These bold "trepseven raised $10 million in funding for SocialShield, a platform that monitors kids' online activity.

Given that broadband access in America (68.2 percent of all households) is vastly dwarfed by that of South Korea (a staggering 97.5 percent), is it possible that a similar initiative could benefit American teens, too?

Let us know your thoughts -- sound off in the comments below.

Related:Telltale Signs You Have a Workplace Bully

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Geoff Weiss

Former Staff Writer

Geoff Weiss is a former staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.

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