South Korea Urges Tougher Action on Tobacco Marketing Practices

Key points:

1. Tobacco companies are using misleading information such as "environmentally friendly" to target consumers, especially selling "flavored tobacco" to people in their teens and twenties.

2. Although there are precedents in other countries supporting tobacco companies' liability for compensation, South Korean courts still maintain that "smoking is a personal choice".

3. Experts are calling for tobacco companies to transparently disclose the ingredients and manufacturing process of their products, to ban marketing targeting youth and women, and to bear the social costs of smoking.

South Korean tobacco companies are using increasingly sophisticated marketing strategies by promoting their products as "environmentally friendly" and "less harmful," Lee Sung-kyu, head of the country's Tobacco Control Research and Education Center, told V.daum on March 11. 

Lee said stricter measures are needed to counter what he described as "deceptive marketing tactics" and called for stronger legal obligations to ensure transparency in disclosing the ingredients and manufacturing process of tobacco products.

He added that tobacco companies have long used words such as "light" and "mild" to promote an image of tobacco with less harm, but these tobacco products have similar levels of nicotine and tar as regular cigarettes. Companies are also targeting young people aged 10 to 30 with "flavoured tobacco" products.

In 2014, the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) filed a lawsuit seeking 53.3 billion South Korean won ($40.5 million) in medical expenses incurred over a decade due to smoking. 

However, in a 2020 ruling, the court rejected holding tobacco companies responsible, stating that smoking is a personal choice made freely and that society widely recognizes the health risks, including lung cancer. 

"Although several foreign rulings have recognized that tobacco companies should be held liable for damages, in South Korea, the Supreme Court continues to uphold the logic that 'smoking is a personal choice," Lee said.

He believes that strengthening the social responsibility of tobacco companies requires a series of actions. Lee said:

"It is necessary to first strengthen the legal obligation to transparently disclose the ingredients and manufacturing process of tobacco products. Secondly, we must completely ban marketing aimed at adolescents and women. Thirdly, we must clearly define their social responsibilities, such as holding tobacco companies accountable for the social costs of smoking."