The Ministry of Health and Welfare has reportedly sent a letter requesting the withdrawal of an e-cigarette show to be held at an indoor venue.

According to the health ministry, exhibition organizer The Fairs will hold the Korea Vape Show 2023 for three days at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, from July 21. 

The event is the fourth annual e-cigarette expo, where the latest e-cigarette products and technologies will be displayed, and visitors will be able to experience them.

"We sent a letter asking for the event to be canceled because we had concerns from a health promotion perspective," a MOHW official  was quoted by Yonhap News as saying. "We are also concerned that adolescents may visit the show if access to the convention is not properly controlled."

The ministry also expressed worries about the event publicly advertising e-cig smoking contests that disregarded indoor smoking regulations.

Under current regulations, smoking indoors is only allowed in fully enclosed areas.

However, the organizer's website shows participants inhaling e-cigarettes on an open stage and performing demonstrations such as creating shapes out of smoke during the last year's convention.

The ministry said it plans to do an on-site inspection on the day of the event and impose penalties, such as fines, if the organizers fail to create a fully enclosed smoking room inside the venue.

Gyeonggi Province also reportedly held a meeting with Goyang City, the National Cancer Center, and KINTEX to discuss measures to deal with the e-cig convention.  

Afterward, KINTEX sent three letters to The Fairs requesting them to cancel the event.

Regarding the issue, the organizers said they had submitted plans to resolve the issues of concern to KINTEX and said it would not cancel the convention. 

However, when asked what the plans entail, the organizer official said that she could not divulge the details.

The official also stressed that there had been no issues during the past three conventions.

"During the past three conventions, officials from the local public health center visited the convention and found no wrongdoings," she said.

However, according to local reports, the organizers had evaded the crackdown during past conventions by briefly halting the demonstration or contests during the inspection.