The National Assembly voted Thursday to abolish a decade-old controversial anti-online gaming rule banning minors from late night access to online games.

   Parliament held a plenary session and passed a revision to the youth protection act, which no longer includes the previous rule banning online game access to minors under 16 between midnight and 6 a.m.

   Discussions surrounding the so-called gaming shutdown rule first surfaced in the early 2000s amid growing concerns of social problems surrounding online games. The rule was introduced as law in 2011.

   Thursday's revision was proposed by the government in August to give greater flexibility to children and their parents amid sweeping changes in the online entertainment landscape.

   The government noted that in the 10 years since the shutdown system was introduced, the types of late-night media activities available to children have expanded beyond online games to mobile games, online video services, webtoons, one-person media and social media, raising the need to revise the shutdown system.

   Critics of the shutdown system have argued the rule has demonized gaming culture without fundamentally solving issues of addiction and led many children to open overseas accounts or use their parents' identification to continue to play games through the night. (Yonhap)