South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced the country’s first five-year tobacco harmfulness management plan, covering 2027-2031. The plan calls for expanding the number of harmful substances tested by 2030 to about 50 for conventional cigarettes and heated tobacco products and 30 for liquid e-cigarettes. Smokeless tobacco and water-pipe tobacco would also be added to the testing program. The government also plans to accelerate testing requests for new products by up to 17 months and develop additional testing methods for harmful substances and additives.
The plan has drawn criticism for largely excluding nicotine analogs and nicotine-free products, which are not classified as tobacco under South Korea’s Tobacco Business Act. Imports of nicotine-free products have doubled this year, while online sales of nicotine analog products have increased. Critics also questioned the plan’s limited provisions for flavored tobacco products, whose market share rose from 9.8% in 2013 to 46.5% in 2023. Separately, the proposed 2027 budget for smoking prevention and cessation programs is 79.5 billion won ($58.8 million), down 14.4% from this year’s 92.9 billion won ($68.7 million).
