Housewife Online Chatters Increase

Every morning at 10am, Mrs. Park, a 36-year-old housewife, sends off her family and immediatley heads for her PC where she spends hours every day chatting on-line with other housewives.

Her on-line conversations range from trivial small talk to money matters.
Mrs.Park advocates on-line chatting, "I felt isolated being at home everyday. On-line chatting is great when I need someone to communicate with. Unlike family and friends, on-line companions do not try to dig into each other's private lives."

Mrs. Park is not unique. Skylove (www.skylove.com), an online chatting site with 6 million members, had 232,000 female members in their thirties and older at the start of this month, up from 176,000 in March of 2000 and 91,000 in December of 1999.

Kim Ja-kyung (33), vice-director of Skylove, explains, "the Internet became easier to use at home due to the superhigh-speed Internet network for home use and the 'Internet lecture for million housewives'campaign, which began in early 2000"

However, critics argue that in some cases, on-line chatting can create marital problems.

Mrs.Choi, a 38-year-old housewife, is considering having an off-line date with a man she met in a chat room titled'Reaching the middle point of life'. She's been chatting with him for a month, now he is ready for an off-line date. Mrs. Choi admits wanting to meet him for tea.

In some cases, on-line chatting can lead to violence. The Dalso Police Station in Taegu City booked a 37-year-old man for kidnapping and assaulting a 28-year-old man for having an extensive on-line relationship with his wife.

In another case, on July 2 in Seosan, South Chungchong Province, a 35 year-old housewife was killed by her husband (38) on her way to meet a man she met while chatting.

by Woo Sang-kyun