Smokers' life expectancy about 8 years shorter than that of non-smokers in S. Korea

Today is World No Tobacco Day,… an annual event designated by the World Health Organization to increase public awareness about the dangers of tobacco.. Our Won Jung-hwan looks at smoking's impact on health in Korea. There are around 1-point-1 billion smokers around the world. And according to a recent report by the WHO, tobacco kills more than 7 million people each year.Over six million of those deaths come from direct tobacco use, but some 900-thousand are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.And in Korea, the issue is equally alarming.According to a 7-year study by the Korea Insurance Development Institute on Friday,… the death rate for smokers in Korea is 1-point-6 times higher than it is for non-smokers.And while the average life expectancy for a 60-year-old non-smoking male was around 86-point-6,… for those smokers, it was 78-point-7,… some 8 years shorter. However, recent government data also showed that the smoking rate for Korean men aged 19 or older has steadily fallen since 2008 to reach a record-low of some 38 percent in 2017. But there are concerns that there could be a growing number of young smokers in middle and high schools following the recent launch of new e-cigarette products.Last week, one of the most popular e-cigarette companies in the world, Juul, entered the Korean market.And its product launch may lead to increased smoking among adolescents here as it releases little smoke and does not give off the smell of conventional cigarettes,... making it possible for people to smoke them without attracting much attention, eventually possibly making it harder for young smokers to quit.Currently, 6-point-7 percent of young smokers are likely to continue the habit as adults.South Korea recently unveiled its "tobacco endgame" plan that calls for reducing the number of indoor smoking areas and adopting more graphic warning labels to push people to quit smoking. But with the possible increase of young smokers in the country,... it will be a tough for the country to hit its target of reducing the number of male smokers to below 29 percent by 2022.