http://www.fctc.org/fca-news/opinion-pieces/1415-determined-activists-drive-tobacco-control
Dr Hong Gwan Seo’s conversion to tobacco control activist began as he puffed on a cigarette reading medical literature on the harms caused by smoking.
“As a doctor I thought I knew the dangers, but as I read I realized smoking was crazy; it was like committing suicide slowly. So I quit.”
That was 1988, the year that the Korean Association on Smoking or Health (KASH) was founded. Since then, there have been two high points for advocates in South Korea, says Dr Seo. In 1995, the Health Promotion Act created smoke-free spaces and banned tobacco advertising.
In 2014-15, the government adopted a range of tobacco control (TC) measures: cigarette prices rose 80 percent thanks to a tax hike and it was announced that packages would have to carry graphic health warnings by December 2016.