BUSAN, Feb. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Customs authorities in Busan said Tuesday they have busted the largest cigarette trafficking operation on record in South Korea. The Busan Main Customs said it has arrested three people, including a 73-year-old Seoul man, and put a 43-year-old man on a wanted list on charges of smuggling 700,000 cigarette [...]
SEJONG, Jan. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales of cigarettes in South Korea fell 0.7 percent in 2019 from a year earlier due to the government-led anti-smoking campaign and higher prices, data showed Wednesday. Smokers purchased 3.45 billion 20-cigarette packs last year, compared with the previous year’s 3.47 billion packs, according to data compiled by the [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s health ministry said Monday that the graphic warnings on cigarette packs will be enlarged starting next year in the latest move to curb smoking. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it plans to adopt a revised law that mandates expanding the warning images from the current [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Merely lighting up a cigarette in a non-smoking area can be punished by a fine of up to 100,000 won (US$88). In addition, privacy cannot serve as reasonable grounds to oppose being photographed when caught smoking in a non-smoking area. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, in new guidelines [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Many smokers make a New Year’s resolution to quit smoking. They visit and register at smoking clinics to help quit. Smoking clinics provide 12 weeks of nicotine supplements, such as patches and gum, as well as chiropractors, toothpaste, toothbrush, and mouthwash for free. Despite their effort to quit smoking, [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – The smoking rate for South Korean men aged 19 or older fell last year, the health ministry said Thursday, a sign that the country’s strong anti-smoking campaign paid off. The rate of men smoking substantially decreased in 2017, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, without elaborating. The ministry [...]
SUWON, Jun. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Fire accidents caused by cigarettes have sharply decreased due to the popularity of heat-not-burn tobacco products and heightened public awareness, data showed Friday. According to the data released by the National Fire Agency, the number of fires caused by unextinguished cigarette butts, the leading cause of fire accidents, across [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Philip Morris Korea Inc. said Monday that switching to its heat-not-burn device, IQOS, reduces health risks compared with continued smoking, citing its six-month clinical study amid controversy over harmful substances from the smoke-free product. According to its study, eight measures of biological response improved in those who switched to [...]
SEOUL, May 18 (Korea Bizwire) — According to a study, one in eight people buy cigarettes on impulse after viewing cigarette advertisements or cigarette packs on display at convenience stores. Moreover, the same study showed that 1.9 percent of non-smokers had purchased cigarettes on impulse. The study, carried out by Prof. Cho Seong-il and his [...]
SEOUL, May 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s recent decision to enlarge the size of graphic warnings on cigarette packs is facing strong opposition from the Korea Tobacco Retailer Association (KTRA). Along with South Korea, a number of countries oblige tobacco companies to cover more than 65 percent of cigarette packages [...]