Korea cracks down on illegal trade

South Korea’s Customs Service said Tuesday it had intensified a crackdown on cigarette smuggling, which has been on a rise since a tax-induced price hike in January last year, according to a Yonhap News Agency story.

The agency dealt with 239 cases of smuggling in the six months to the end of June this year.

The cigarettes were said to have been ‘worth’ 6.7 billion won.

In January 2015, the government raised the price of cigarettes from 2,500 won to 4,000-4,500 won per pack so as to increase the nation’s economic and physical health.

At first, sales of licit cigarettes plummeted in response to the huge price increase, but they seem to be rebounding. Sales during the first half of this year were up by 14 percent on those of the first sixth months of 2015, according to Nielson data.

More than 35.3 billion cigarettes were said to have been sold during the first half of this year compared to 31.0 billion during the first six months of 2015 and 40.0 billion during the first half of 2014.

However, in May, the Ministry of Health and Welfare reported that the smoking rate among South Koreans aged 19 or older had dropped to 39.3 percent last year from 43.1 percent in 2014.

Last year marked the first time that South Korea’s smoking rate had fallen below 40 percent.