Smoking at home faces crackdown

/ Korea Times file

By Park Si-soo

Smokers in collective residences will face a crackdown from early next year after the parliament approved a tough anti-smoking bill to fight secondhand smoke.

The bill, drawn up by Rep. Choi Myung-gil of the opposition People’s Party of Korea, won approval on Wednesday. The law will take effect from January.

Under existing laws, smoking is banned in collective residences’ stairways, corridors and elevators. But smoking at home is not regulated, leaving people vulnerable to toxic smoke coming from next door.

When the new law goes into effect, wardens will be authorized to visit a suspect house on request. They won’t be given the right to force smokers to stop puffing, but they will be able to warn them.

The revision bill once contained an article justifying the environment regulator’s intervention for settlement, but it was edited out due to privacy concerns.