By Kim Tae-jong
Smokers caught lighting up on footpaths in Seoul will be fined as the municipal government plans to revise a related ordinance to protect non-smokers from the health hazards of secondhand smoke.
The Seoul Metropolitan Council will amend anti-tobacco rules to include sidewalks and footpaths in the list of the city's no-smoking zones, and submit the revision to the relevant standing committee in February at the earliest, an official from the council said Sunday.
“The right to smoke should be respected,” said city counselor Nam Jae-kyong from the ruling Grand National Party. “But we proposed the revision because health hazards from secondhand smoke are more serious.”
In two recent surveys, over 80 percent of citizens said they were in support of the ban on smoking on footpaths, Nam said.
Currently, 20 city-operated parks such as Seoul and Gwanghwamun plazas are designated as no-smoking zones, where those lighting up face a 100,000 won ($93) in fine.
At some 15 large ecological parks, the city government is now setting up smoking sections to prevent smoking in non-designated areas.
The city government also added 314 major bus stops to the list this month and will implement the smoking ban from next March after a three-month grace period.
The series of anti-smoking measures is in line with the city administration’s stance to heighten public awareness of the health hazards from secondhand smoke after it set up a non-smoking ordinance in November last year.
The city government plans to expand its no-smoking zones to include more than one-fifth of the city by 2014. Under the plan, smoking will be banned at more than 9,000 public places by 2014, including 1,910 neighborhood parks, 5,715 bus stops, and 1,305 school zones.
e3dward@koreatimes.co.kr