Juul heads to South Korea

Juul Labs Inc. is expected to enter the South Korean market this year, according to a story by Cho Chung-un for The Korea Herald, quoting a company representative.

The San Francisco-based company was said to have launched in the US in 2017 its electronic-cigarette brand Juul, which, by September 2018, had captured a 72 percent share of that country’s market.

“We are aiming to put the Juul on the South Korean market during the first half of this year or at the start of the latter half at the latest,” a company representative was quoted as saying.

Juul is already available outside the US in Germany, France, Britain, Switzerland, Canada, Russia and Israel.

The e-cigarette maker established its local subsidiary, Juul Labs Korea, late last year.

It has filed a trademark application with the Korean Intellectual Property Office and has been working to establish a sales network.

The story said that Juul Labs planned to offer its brand with a nicotine content of less than one percent.

Korea permitted the sale of e-cigarettes with nicotine levels of up to two percent, while Juul pods sold in the US contained 3-5 percent nicotine.