Korea health insurer sues tobacco firms

The case being brought by South Korea’s state health insurer against tobacco companies has opened in the Seoul district court, according to a story in The Korea Herald.

The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) filed the lawsuit in April against KT&G, British American Tobacco and Philip Morris seeking damages of WON53.7 billion ($52 million) to offset treatment costs for diseases linked to tobacco smoking.

The hearing started on Friday. This is the first lawsuit in South Korea to be brought by a state-run organization against tobacco firms.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Strategy & Finance expressed doubts about the action. ‘Although fully in agreement with the principle, the National Health Insurance Service will have a hard time to prove criminal intent on the part of the tobacco company’, the ministry said at that time.

On April 10, just days before the NHIS submitted its lawsuit to the Seoul district court, the Supreme Court rejected a suit filed by about 30 lung cancer patients and their families against KT&G. The country’s highest court said there was a “lack of proof” that the patients contracted lung cancer solely because of smoking. The court said also that smoking, ultimately, was a choice, not a compulsion.

Despite the Supreme Court case, the NHIS has been openly confident about its lawsuit, arguing it has enough medical evidence to prove the link between tobacco use and lung cancer.