Making his living on his knack for swiftly moving his fingers across keyboards and commanding tens of mouse clicks per second, Jung Jong-hyun is no ordinary 20-year-old Korean.



Jung, who was named one of the three national Starcraft 2 champions for the World Cyber Games next month, said he is proud to represent his country, the world's best place to be a professional gamer.



"It is like the Olympics," Jung said, calling South Korea the origin of cyber sports. "I'd like to win."



Professional gamers have a status similar to sports celebrity in South Korea, a result of advanced broadband infrastructure and avid gaming culture.



More than 90 percent of Korean households have access to broadband Internet and there are cable TV channels dedicated to broadcasting regional and national leagues of electronic sports, or e-sports. Outstanding gamers can join a team sponsored by big corporations like Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Telecom Co. and make big bucks by winning championship titles.



"Foreign professional gamers are envious of our system," he added. "Professional gamers are well treated here and training and management for us are great."



Jung said he was lucky to have parents who recognized his skill when he was 13 years old and encouraged him to follow his dream of making living on doing what he loves most.



Having made his debut as a professional gamer in 2008, Jung represents a new generation of South Korea's professional gaming community who grew up watching the glory of the first generation.



Growing up, Jung's hero was Starcraft legend Lim Yo-hwan, fascinated by his dramatic playing style that usually gave Lim a last-minute upset victory.



This summer, Jung defeated his hero Lim in a Starcraft 2 battle, he said.



"I was more nervous than usual because I was competing against my idol," Jung said.

Some say the prime days for South Korea's professional gamers have passed. The number of new professional gamers registered with the Korea e-Sports Association reached its peak in 2006 at 142, a three-fold spike from 2005. But the number declined to 104 in 2010.



But Jung, who found professional fame just recently after he switched to Starcraft 2 from Starcraft one year ago, thinks persistence and continuing efforts to evolve even outside games would pay off.



"I began to read detective novels to improve my speech skills," he said with a quiet demeanor and a pensive smile. (Yonhap)

