59% of Koreans Are in Agreement with Plan to Raise Cigarette Price by 2000 Won

Source from:  Korea Bizwire (kr)  07/11/2014

A survey revealed that 59 percent of Koreans were in agreement over the government's plan to raise the cigarette prices.

Gallup Korea recently held a survey on 1,000 adults older than 19 years of age, asking "What do you think about the plan to increase the price for a pack of cigarettes to 4,500 won from the current 2,500 won?" To this, 59 percent said affirmatively while 35 percent were in opposition. Only 7 percent answered "I don't know."

The percentage of people who approved the plan has increase slightly from 52 percent in an earlier poll in March this year. The approval ratio differed by whether the respondent was a smoker. As many as 65 percent of non-smokers said they agreed to the plan while only 34 percent of smokers said so.

As to the series of public service messages put out by the Ministry of Health and Welfare since last month featuring former smokers suffering from serious chronic diseases, 67 percent showed positive response. Even smokers were in agreement (67%) with the often-repulsive images. A Gallup Korea official explained that this is partly because some smokers don't care how gross the image is. Enditem