Teen Smoking on the Rise in Korea

Teen smoking in Korea appears to be on the rise according to a new survey.

The number of heavy-smoking secondary schoolchildren continues to rise. 

According to an online survey of adolescents' health published on Thursday by Grand National Party lawmaker Lim Hye-kyu, the daily smoking rate -- the ratio of smokers who have smoked every day for the past 30 days -- rose sharply from 3.9 percent in 2005 to 6.5 percent in 2008.

Lim, a member of the National Assembly Education, Science and Technology Committee, got the data from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. 

Nine percent of boys smoked every day in 2008, up from 5.3 percent in 2005. In comparison, the ratio of those who smoked for more than one day in the past 30 days grew only slightly from 11.8 percent to 12.8 percent. In other words, the ratio of continuous smokers increased higher than that of occasional smokers.

Some 2.8 percent smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day in 2008, up from 2.1 percent in 2005. Of the students surveyed, 10.3 percent of boys and 6.5 percent of girls in 2008 said they had smoked before entering middle school. Only 50.8 percent said they had received antismoking education more than once a year.

The survey was conducted among about 80,000 students at 800 nationwide middle and high schools.

I am impressed with the survey size of 80,000 students at over 800 middle and high schools nationwide.  The statistics are probably dead on.

A possible explanation why smoking is on the rise could be PC Bang usage by teens.  Kids go to internet cafes and sit there for hours with no parental supervision.  There are lots of older people able to purchase cigarettes for them and smoking kills your appetite and keeps your mind focused, two things hard-core gamers want.  Likewise, if a child comes home smelling like cigarettes, it is very easy to lie and say they were not smoking but just picked up the smell at a PC Bang.

Cigarettes are also inexpensive compared to Europe and North America, with a pack usually costing less than $2 American.  There is also a lot of cigarette use by celebrities in movies and television, which always want to emulate.  Plus it seems like every man in the country starts smoking once he joins the army for his mandatory service, so teens who have a father or an older brother who smoke are probably more likely to get a head start on their inevitable bad habit.

We need to start a negative campaign against teen smoking.  I'll start with this.

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