May 2, 2005
Cell phones and pets most popular with kids
With Children's Day approaching Thursday (Children's Day?), a pair of unscientific surveys suggest that Korean kids are craving cell phones and pets as gifts, but that their parents will buy them books instead,according to this rather unusual article by JoongAngDaily
"According to a survey of students in Seoul elementary schools, 32 percent of children listed mobile phones as their gift of choice, followed by pets (13.6 percent) and cash (11.6 percent).
"Children prefer digital entertainment products, while their parents prefer books," said Lee Jong-ho, a sales manager at Interpark, Korea's biggest online shopping mall.
This follows a survey published a couple of days ago, which found that "depriving South Korean youngsters of their cell phone - what they see as a vital link to their community - would be the harshest punishment imaginable."
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