Korea aims for top with warnings

A South Korean government committee has decided to mandate tobacco companies to place graphic health warnings on the upper part of cigarette packets, reports the Yonhap News Agency.

The images must occupy more than 30 percent of the front and back of cigarette packaging, beginning Dec. 23, if a revised enforcement ordinance is promulgated, said the Regulatory Reform Committee.

The move represents a reversal of the committee’s decision last month that the graphic images should not be placed on the upper part of cigarette packets. The previous decision drew criticism that the committee took the step in favor of tobacco companies.

In March, the Ministry of Health and Welfare unveiled 10 pictorial warnings, including a diseased lung, a hole in a throat, and rotten teeth, in an effort to encourage people to quit smoking.

The smoking rate among South Koreans, aged 19 or older, dropped to 39.3 percent last year from 43.1 percent in 2014. It marks the first time that South Korea’s smoking rate fell below 40 percent.

The decrease has been attributed to sharp hikes in tobacco prices.