Low cigarette price, stress from long work or study, mandatory military services, and other factors have combined to make Korea one of the 10 heaviest-smoking countries in the world.

The government is of course not exactly sitting idle. Since a few years ago, it has implemented a three-pronged antismoking campaign -- raising tobacco price, taking active non-price measures, and providing smoking cessation programs -- amid mounting calls for improving public health and air quality.

In 2015, the government raised the price of cigarettes from 2,500 won ($2.2) to 4,500 won ($4) a pack, attached warning labels on cigarette packages associated with smoking’s harmful effects, ranging from cerebral stroke and lung cancer to sexual dysfunction and skin aging, and offered various smoking cessation programs at no or low costs.

According to market research firm Nielsen Korea earlier this year, however, cigarette consumption last year rose 9.3 percent from 2015, showing the idea that higher prices on cigarettes would stop people from smoking did not work as had been anticipated. The smoking rate in South Korea even went up after the higher tobacco tax took effect and 34 percent of Koreans are smokers.

What’s gone wrong?

Take the warning labels. Government officials cite various studies, here and abroad, which offer evidence that the graphic warnings raise awareness about the health hazards of smoking and reduce the attraction of tobacco. In Canada, for example, the warning labels have reduced the possibility of people who don't smoke becoming smokers by 12.5 percent. In Australia, 57 percent of smokers said health warnings could motivate them to quit.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has made this and other posters as part of its antismoking campaign since 2015.

According to a recent report by the Korea Health Promotion Institute on the effectiveness of graphic warning labels on cigarette packages, however, the shock value of the images found on tobacco warning labels in Korea was relatively small compared to the World Health Organization’s guidelines. This indicates the government needs to get much bolder in its anti-smoking efforts.

Nor are the government’s smoking cessation programs going smoothly. The Ministry of Health and Welfare receives financial supports from National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) for smoking-cessation programs offered by more than 14,000 medical clinics nationwide, which offer smoking prevention programs targeting the youth, and produce anti-smoking ads.

“The percentage of health promotion fund will go up with the cigarette price hike,” A government official said. “The increased revenue from the price markup will be used for drug therapy and counseling services, with the anti-smoking services expanding to schools, the military, and business enterprises.”

The 12-week program, aimed to help smokers kick the bad habit, costs 440,000 won ($391) for one participant to complete. It provides counseling and anti-smoking pills for participants who complete it. Participants who successfully finish the program receive additional healthcare celebration gifts, such as household blood pressure monitors, and is entitled to a full refund of the copayment paid through the NHIS.

About 358,700 people signed up for the anti-smoking program last year, a whopping 57 percent increase from 2015, but its operators failed to spend the program's entire budget, according to the data by NHIS.

The analysis of the six-month implementation showed a high dropout rate, with only 39 percent of the participants finishing the program. Because of the high dropout rate, the program spent only 76 percent of the 108.1 billion won ($96 million) budget last year.

“I applied for the anti-smoking program because it’s near my house,” a smoker in his mid-40s said, who wishes to remain anonymous. “However, many people come and go, believing the program can be the source of motivation but realizing it’s not.”

To put the remaining amount of budget to good use, NHIS announced on April 27 that smokers could receive smoking-cessation services from May 1 through a smartphone application, which can easily locate smoking cessation clinics near them.

To use this service, individuals can download the “M Health Insurance” application from the NHIC website and access it in the order of “All menu → Health insurance information → Finding a doctor.”

Within a 10-km radius of the individual’s present location, medical institutions listed with their contacts and addresses are accessible to apply.

Not many people, smokers, and officials appear confident about the effects of all this anti-smoking campaign.

“At the heart of the campaign’s sluggish performance is the hectic lifestyle of Koreans, which forces not just adult males but even women and juveniles to light up to relieve their stress from overwork and grueling study,” a sociologist said. “Unless and until Koreans learn to lead a more leisurely life, free from cutthroat competition, the smoking rate would hardly go down.”

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