Price hike will hit those on low-incomes

A group of smokers in South Korea has called on the government to shelve its plan to hike cigarette prices, saying the increase would be a further burden on low-income people, according to a Yonhap News Agency report.

Last week, the government announced it would try to raise the price of cigarettes by about 80 percent, from WON2,500 per pack to WON4,500 per pack, starting next year. The plan requires parliamentary approval before it can go into effect.

“We oppose the push for a sharp increase in cigarette prices,” members of ‘I Love Smoking’, an on-line community of smokers, said during a news conference in front of the National Assembly in Seoul on Monday.

“Low-income people will have no choice but to bear the brunt of the planned jump in cigarette prices.

“The government should drop the plan and come up with a more acceptable solution.”

The smokers’ group said it would stage an on-line campaign to collect smokers’ signatures in a bid to thwart the government plan.

Officials said that the price hike plan was aimed at cutting the country’s high smoking rate, but critics claimed that it might be designed to increase tax revenue.