Tobacco companies in Korea may soon be forced to cover more than half of the surface of their cigarette packs with warning messages and pictures showing the harmful effects of the habit.
The parliamentary health committee voted to pass a revision to the law today.
The full assembly is scheduled to vote on the measure next month.
Here′s Sohn Jung-in with more.
Anti-smoking messages cover just 30 percent of cigarette packs sold in Korea and are only written warnings,... which are easy to ignore.
In line with the government′s tougher policy on smoking, the National Assembly′s Health and Welfare Committee voted for passage of a revised law that forces cigarette companies to use pictures showing the harmful effects of the habit and written warnings that together should cover more than 50 percent of the packaging.
The law also seeks to penalize tobacco firms found to be breaking the rules.
They would face monetary fines of up to 9-thousand U.S. dollars, be banned from doing business or put company officials behind bars for up to a year.
The revised law will become final if it gains the approval of the full parliament in a session scheduled for March third.
The revision is in accordance with a recommended standard for cigarette graphic warnings issued by the World Health Organization.
As of last July, 179 countries had adopted the measure, with Korea being one of them, but the rules have yet to be put in place.
If the law is passed in Korea, the visual warning system will become mandatory after a grace period of 18 months.
Officials in favor of the move say such warnings are one of the most effective anti-smoking measures across the world.
Brazil for instance, saw its smoking rate plunge by 10 percentage points to 22 percent one year after the law was implemented.
According to data by the OECD in 2014, the smoking rate for Korean men was 38 percent, the second-highest in the world after Greece.
Earlier this year,... the Korean government raised cigarette prices by about two dollars a pack in a bid to reduce the smoking rate.
Sohn Jung-in, Arirang News.

свернуть