Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light, though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.
Violators of smoking ban will be fined without exception
By Jhoo Dong-chan
A three-month grace period ends today for violators of a smoking ban at all restaurants, coffee shops and Internet cafes, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Tuesday.
From today, anyone who violates the ban will be fined 100,000 won ($90), while the owners will have to pay 1.7 million won ($1,500).
When the government implemented the ban in January, it gave a grace period until the end of March, and has since tried to raise public awareness about the smoking ban.
“Smoking in those places has not been strongly controlled to date. We only fined owners who maintained smoking tables for the last three months,” said a ministry official. “However, the ban will be strictly applied from April.”
Those businesses are not allowed to have designated smoking tables any longer. Instead, they will have to set up separate smoking booths.
In early March, I Love Smoking, which represents the interests of smokers and some restaurant owners, filed a petition with the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of the ban.
It claimed in a petition, “Many restaurant owners are considering closing down their business altogether because the number of customers plummeted after the ban.”