South Korea to Make Cigarette Pack Warnings More Direct and Impactful

South Korea is set to implement more striking warning labels on cigarette packaging, with changes to graphic warnings and text due to take effect on December 23. This update follows a six-month grace period after the Ministry of Health and Welfare revised the official notice on cigarette pack warnings. The revisions are part of an ongoing effort, updated every two years since 2016, to encourage smoking cessation and deter non-smokers.

The updated regulations focus on enhancing the impact of existing warnings, which have potentially diminished due to repeated exposure. Based on domestic and international research and a survey of 2,100 citizens, the new labels aim to convey the harms of smoking more intuitively. For conventional cigarettes, the warning about sexual dysfunction, deemed difficult to represent visually, has been removed and replaced with kidney cancer. The graphic warnings will now also cover oral cancer, heart disease, eye diseases, peripheral artery disease, and secondhand smoke.

Text warnings are also being strengthened with more direct phrasing. For instance, the phrase "The road to lung cancer" will be changed to "The end of smoking is lung cancer," and "The road to laryngeal cancer" will become "The end of smoking is laryngeal cancer." For e-cigarettes, both existing graphic warnings will be replaced. The warning text, previously "Nicotine addiction, carcinogen exposure!", will be split into "Nicotine addiction!" and "Risk of cancer!" to more clearly delineate the specific dangers.

Kim Han-sook, Director of Health Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated the ministry's commitment to continuing tobacco control policies that align with international standards. These include expanding the area for graphic warnings, broadening the scope of applicable products, and introducing plain packaging with no advertisements. The goal is to bolster the effectiveness of health warnings on cigarette packs and further reduce smoking rates.

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To enhance the effectiveness of cigarette pack health warnings, we will continue to pursue tobacco control policies that align with international standards, such as expanding the area of graphic warnings, expanding the scope of application to tobacco devices, and introducing plain tobacco packaging.