How about quitting smoking?

By Park Moo-jong

National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong has been spotlighted for his brave, heartfelt but somewhat "dangerous" advice to the "adorable" supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, during their dinner on March 15 in Pyongyang.

"How about quitting smoking? It's bad for your health," the 71 year-old seasoned Seoul diplomat advised the 34-year-old dictator of the reclusive country on the northern part of the Korean Peninsula during the dinner for a South Korean delegation for a proposed summit between President Moon Jae-in and Kim.

The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese daily, citing multiple government sources in both Koreas, said Chung's unexpected and abrupt advice to the top leader, known as a chain smoker, froze for a moment Kim's onetime spy chief Kim Yong-chol, who had led the North Korean delegation at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February. (What were our media outlets doing to allow the Japanese newspaper to get such a scoop?)

It is common sense for many South Koreans to know that admonishing the dear leader, worshipped as a virtual deity, is a sort of blasphemy and Chung's sudden advice chilled the atmosphere for a second until Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, reacted immediately to say, clapping her hands, "I always ask (him) to quit smoking, but (he) won't listen to me." And Kim, called by Ri "my husband," laughed for a peaceful dinner.

It has not been known yet what motivated Chung to give such advice all of a sudden to the young heavy smoker during such an important meeting, the first of its kind Kim had with top South Korean officials in person since he took power after his father Kim Jong-il died in December 2011.

But it's like an "old" man advising his son out of concern for the young man's health ahead of the historic summit on April 27 because Kim reportedly started lighting up at the age of around 15 or younger. In fact, Kim is notorious for smoking whenever and wherever he wants. His father was also a heavy smoker.

It is a familiar sight of Kim holding a lit cigarette in his hand during his "guidance" visits at hospitals, schools and even kindergartens. To the surprise of the people outside his country, a photo showed him smoking just meters from the base of an untested, liquid-fueled rocket engine during a missile launch last July.

Ironically, however, the heavy smoking North Korean dictator has been ordering the people to kick the deadly habit, saying, "Just for one's health and for cultural, moral and sound living as well, and further for the civilized and wealthy future of our fatherland, it would be better for you to quit smoking boldly," according to Rodong Sinmun, the North's Communist Party mouthpiece.

Even he reportedly asked questions in detail during his visit to hospitals to see that they were sterilized and dust free, stressing that hospitals should be neat and splendid, and the dear leader is never setting an example. Who dare asks him to take the lead in the antismoking campaign?

Kim may like to take after other notoriously heavy-smoking dictators such as Fidel Castro of Cuba and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union and his father, too.

How about the antismoking campaign in South Korea?

Recently, the government honored Dr. Park Jae-gap, 70, the inaugural president of the National Cancer Center, with a national medal for his lifelong contribution to helping people quit the deadly habit of puffing as a pioneer of the nation's antismoking movement.

One of the few good jobs of the government is discouraging people from smoking by expanding no-smoking zones and raising tobacco prices. Smoking was banned as early as three years ago within 10 meters of 1,662 subway entrances in Seoul and also on most main streets.

Indoor smoking is prohibited here, there and everywhere, ever making the world smaller for smokers, except mostly back alleys. Notably, smoking was banned from January in billiard rooms, virtually the last location where pool shooters were lighting up.

Still, South Korea is notorious for its high smoking rate and comparatively low cigarette prices, amid concerns that the smoking age is getting lower and the number of young women smoking is increasing.

Not only nonsmokers but smokers know the famous phrase: "Smoking causes 100 harmful effects and not a single good thing, doing more harm than good."

So many people complain that quitting smoking is really a difficult job as one of the top three signature New Year resolutions along with losing weight and stopping or reducing drinking.

Mark Twain (1835-1910), a U.S. writer, known as a "cloud-compeller," proved the difficulty of throwing away the deadly habit by saying: "If smoking is not allowed in heaven, I shall not go." And he joked, "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times."

But personally I am proud that I quit smoking 29 years ago after smoking about one pack of 20 cigarettes a day for 23 years and have not touched a cigarette since then _ so far.

Now, here comes the basic question: "How to quit smoking?" The answer is, needless to say, the will of smokers. It depends on them. Smokers may get angry with me, if I call for designating tobacco as a kind of narcotic just as Dr. Park, the pioneer for the no-smoking campaign, did.

So why don't you declare to your family, friends, co-workers and others around you that "I gave up smoking"?

Smokers still have the right to light up. But they do not have the right to pollute the air nonsmokers breathe, not to speak of harming their own health.

I firmly believe that the people of the world will have the chance to see Kim Jong-un hold a lit cigarette during his meetings with the much older Moon and Donald Trump.

Park Moo-jong is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper founded in 1951 from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com.