South Korea: Crackdown to Start on Illegal Tobacco Ads

Source from:  Korea Times (kr) 04/28/2015

Starting next month, the Ministry of Health and Welfare will crack down on owners of retail stores which have illegal tobacco ads on display.

The ministry said Monday that its officials will randomly visit 2,500 convenience stores to check whether they are violating the law related to promoting cigarettes.

According to the National Health Promotion Act, sellers are not allowed to place cigarette ads outside their premises. Also, the ads cannot promote more than just the brand, type and simple characteristics of the products. They must not be designed to attract non-smokers.

The law also bans tobacco companies from promoting their products when they sponsor events. If the events are supposed to be for women or children, the tobacco firms cannot sponsor them.

Violators face up to one year in prison or a fine of 10 million won ($9,300).

"This will be our first massive crackdown on illegal tobacco ads," a ministry official said. "We plan to conduct the crackdown annually, encouraging sellers to correct their wrong practices by themselves."

The state-run Korea Health Promotion Foundation (KHPF) has already reinforced online monitoring. Selling and buying cigarettes online are illegal in Korea.

As soon as they collect data and take proper action to correct illegal acts, the ministry and the KHPF plan to reveal the results to the public.

This is part of the ministry's effort to curb the nation's smoking rate. The ministry said the smoking rate among men dropped from 49.2 percent in 2008 to 45.3 percent in 2014 thanks to cigarette price hikes.

Earlier this month, the ministry also said it will set up a research center dedicated to studying the harmful effects of smoking as early as July. Enditem