SOUTH KOREA – The government of South Korea has announced plans to introduce stronger health warnings on cigarette packaging, the country’s new agency Yonhap reported.
Under the new government regulation, cigarette manufacturers in the country will be required to strengthen the health warnings on the packaging, the agency reported citing South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The Ministry plans to release the revised manual for labeling health warnings on cigarette packaging on 29 August.
This comes after the government passed the revised tobacco industry regulation revision in June this year.
As per the revised manual, companies are required to display more graphic warnings on cigarette products such as a warning on second-hand smoking featuring an image of a newborn child sucking on a baby bottle that has cigarette butts in it.
Meanwhile, e-cigarette packaging is also mandated to have more than 50% health warnings, officials said. The new regulation will come into effect starting on 23 December 2022.
In a similar move, the Government of India reportedly proposed the addition of health warnings to tobacco packaging, last month.
Under the proposed new requirements, all tobacco and cigarette packets will display either ‘Tobacco causes painful death’ or ‘Tobacco users die younger’.
Each of the two warning texts will appear in white font on a red background and be accompanied by different images.
In June this year, the Canadian Government also considered introducing more stringent regulations for tobacco product packaging and labeling.
KT&G to build new packaging factory in Sejong
Meanwhile, South Korean tobacco company KT&G has announced plans to develop a new eco-friendly plant for tobacco packaging in the central administrative hub of Sejong City.
Under the 180 billion won (U$133.5 million) project, the factory will be constructed at Sejong Mirae Industrial Estate, a government-developed area for local manufacturing companies, by 2025.
KT&G said the factory will produce tobacco packagings such as cigarette papers and boxes, based on a cutting-edge logistics automation system and a digital printing process.
It aims to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, an eco-friendly certification by using renewable energy including solar energy and upgrading infrastructure for air (pollution) and wasted water, the company added.
“With the eco-friendly factory, we plan to contribute to making Sejong a green city, and also putting in extra efforts in supporting the underprivileged and other corporate social responsibility activities,” concluded a KT&G official.
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