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| Graphic warnings on cigarette packs may become a lot bigger and more shocking. / Yonhap |
By Jung Min-ho
The government is expected to replace graphic warnings on cigarette packs with bigger and more shocking ones by the end of the year.
Yet cigarette makers here told The Korea Times Friday they are "not too worried" about the new warnings' possible impact on their sales.
"When the government introduced the graphic health warning policy a couple of years ago, we were concerned it would reduce demand for cigarettes. But the policy turned out to have little impact on our sales. I think this time it won't be much different," said Kwak Sang-hee, a senior PR official at British American Tobacco (BAT) North Asia.
"But we do not know for sure at this point. It may affect the demand, depending on how big the warnings will be and how they will look."
A PR official at KT&G, the largest tobacco maker in Korea, also said the company doesn't expect a big drop in sales, citing examples in which similar policies in other countries barely affected demand for cigarettes.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, members of its committee for new graphic warnings had their first meeting Friday at the Sejong Hotel in Seoul.
The committee consists of four ministry officials and eight civilian experts in various fields.
In an effort to reduce the social costs of smoking, which many health experts call the leading preventable cause of death around the world, the ministry adopted 10 photos showing the harmful effects of smoking in December 2016.
Under the law, graphic warnings should be replaced with new ones every two years.
The photos depict the face or other body parts of smokers suffering from fatal disease such as lung cancer, which must cover 30 percent of all cigarette packs sold here. Text warnings cover 20 percent.
But a recent survey by the Korea Health Promotion Institute suggests three-quarters of people think the coverage should be larger. Only 24.6 percent of adults and 17.1 percent of juveniles said they support the current 50 percent limit.
The committee will discuss many issues, including the extension of the graphic warning size and adding English text warnings for cigarettes sold at duty free shops.
But some experts say the effects of graphic warnings are limited; they think the government should use its tax policy if it is serious about reducing smoking rates. But policymakers know tax policies always carry political risks.
According to the latest data from Statistics Korea, the smoking rate of Korean men aged 19 or older remains high relative to other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development at 39.1 percent.
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