PHOTOS Graphic images aim to cut Korea's smoking rate

This photo showing lung cancer surgery is one of the 10 graphic images that tobacco companies must show on the cigarette packets from Dec. 23. / Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare

By Lee Jin-a

Tobacco makers in Korea will have to add an “appalling” element to cigarette packets from Dec. 23: graphic photos or images highlighting the deadly risk of smoking.

Products showing the graphic images are expected to go on sale in late January or February at the earliest.

The images are the latest in a series of anti-smoking measures the health ministry is taking to reduce smoking rates.

At the end of last year, 39.3 percent of Korean male adults were smokers and 5.5 percent of female adults. The ratio for male adults was the third-highest among 34 OECD member countries.

A larynx cancer patient / Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare

The ministry has selected 10 photos or images, half of which are photos of real patients with cancers allegedly caused by smoking.

“As the government requires the tobacco companies to change the images every two years, we think the system will regularly remind smokers about the negative health effects of smoking,” a ministry official said.

“We expect that the new packaging will change the perception on cigarettes and prevent non-smokers from trying.”

According to the Korea Health Promotion Foundation, smoking rates in 18 countries fell by 4.2 percent on average after they adopted the anti-smoking program.

The smoking rate in Brazil, which introduced the program in 2002, had dropped by 14.8 percent in 2008. Smoking rates also fell in Canada (7.8 percent), Belgium (6.4 percent) and Norway (6 percent).

A mouth cancer patient / Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare

This graphic image highlights the dangers of second-hand smoking. / Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare

Here is what happens to a fetus when the mother smokes. / Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare