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| Starting Feb 1, smoking e-cigarettes will be illegal in Singapore. / Yonhap |
By Jung Min-ho
Starting Feb 1, buying, possessing and using e-cigarettes will be illegal in Singapore.
Anyone caught buying, possessing or using e-cigarettes can be fined up to $S2,000 (1,630,000 won). Foreign tourists will not be exempt.
Other tobacco products like hookah, also known as shisha, and chewing tobacco will also be illegal.
Citizens and foreign tourists alike are being urged to pay attention to the new policy.
"(Members of) the public are encouraged to discard any prohibited tobacco products in their possession," local media quoted the ministry as saying.
According to the Singapore Tourism Board, 16 million people visited the country in 2016, including more than 560,000 Koreans.
With the ban, Singapore will have one of the world's toughest stances against e-cigarettes.
The ban is part of the first phase of amendments to the Tobacco Act, which were passed two months ago in Parliament.
The government will take further steps later, including gradually raising the minimum legal age for the purchase, use, possession, sale and supply of tobacco products from 18 to 21.
