Lee, 28, wrote a message and hired the Seoul-based tech company Vaice in December to make a short video clip showing a digital likeness of his grandfather delivering it. The virtual character called his father "my most precious son," and apologized for making him help with farm work when he was a child and for opposing his son's decision to become a hairstylist.

In recent years, a growing number of bereaved people in digitally-savvy South Korea have been trying out tech startups that offer short simulated videos of dead relatives.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — When he wanted to give a gift to his father who sacrificed much to raise him as a single parent, Lee Geon Hui settled on