Trying to get the country`s many millions of smokers to go cold turkey, the government plans to slap another 500 won on cigarette prices in July, meaning the cost of a pack will have gone up 1,000 won since the end of last year.
The average price of a pack of cigarettes is 2,500 won following a 500 won increase December 30 but more than half the adult male population still smokes.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday it would call for a 500 won increase in an amendment of a bill to promote health to the National Assembly next month.
Minister of Health and Welfare Kim Geun-tae told a news conference he would push ahead with the planned hike in July, although the timing for the increase could be discussed further.
"We will drop the current smoking rate of 53 percent to 30 percent, a level in industrialized countries, by 2010," Kim said. "We are also determined to thwart the growing number of juvenile smokers with the increase of cigarette prices."
The ministry previously said the smoking rate among the adult male population dropped 4.7 percent to 53.1 percent after last December`s price increase.
Referring to concern expressed by the Bank of Korea that higher cigarette prices would curb the Gross Domestic Product, Kim said health is more important than economic development and people can boost growth when they are in good physical shape.
The state bank said earlier that the production of cigarettes was cut in half in the first quarter of this year due to hoarding by retailers last year before the December price increase. That, it added, had caused a decrease of GDP by a considerable 0.3 percent given that cigarette sales usually contribute 0.62 percent to the nation`s growth index.