No. of PC game rooms exceeds 20,000 at last year`s end

The number of personal computer game rooms nationwide stood at 21,460 at the end of last year, a whopping 41.6 percent increase over the previous year`s 15,150, it was reported on Tuesday.

The increase in PC rooms in large cities like Seoul slowed in the latter half of last year, while the number sharply rose in small cities in South and North Chungchong Provinces, South and North Cholla Provinces and Cheju-do, according to the Internet PC Culture Association, an interest group PC room owners.

By region, North Chungchong Province saw the highest increase rate of 18.7 percent, followed by South Chungchong Province`s 14.8 percent, Cheju Province`s 14.4 percent, North Cholla Province`s 14.1 percent and Kangwon Province`s 12.7 percent. Seoul registered a modest rate of 9.9 percent, but accounted for 26 percent of the total number of PC rooms nationwide with 5,610, according to the association.

Cheon Kwang-Am iam@donga.com