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South Korea has resorted to drastic measures to try and stop a workaholic culture engulfing its country.

The government has announced a new initiative that shuts down its employee's computers at 8pm on Fridays to force them to leave work on time.

The country has some of the longest working hours in the world with government employees clocking up an average of 2,739 hours a year.

Seoul Metropolitan Government says it will roll out the initiative over the next three months, beginning on March 30.

(Image: AFP)

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There will be three phases to the plan - starting with the 8pm switch-off then bringing it back to 7.30pm and finally to 7pm for the final phase.

According to the BBC , there will be some exemptions provided in special circumstances.

Amazingly, 67.1% of government workers have asked to be exempt from the forced restriciton.

Earlier this month, the government also passed a law to cut down the maximum weekly working hours from 68 to 52.