South Korea (대한민국)

[Valsacar]

After Ludo told me the reason for the high cost of Janty products in Korea I did a little research.

We pay SUPER HEAVY taxes in Korea that's why the prices are so high... it's the government making profit, not us...

From what I've learned, they ARE legal (obviously) but labeled as "mild cigarettes" and therefore must cover all the restrictions and taxes as cigarettes. The Ministries involved (health and trade) claim e-cigarettes are harmful to health in the same manner that cigarettes are harmful.

I'm looking at gathering evidence and writing a letter (in Korean and English) to these two Ministries and including copies of relavent studies. Depending on cost, I may have those studies professionally translated as well.

The end goal is to see the restrictions lifted a bit, and the taxes lowered drastically. It seems to me that they are taxed much more heavily than standard cigarettes, of course some of it may be due to import taxes. To give you an idea, a pack of cigarettes is 2300 KRW (~1.95 USD/pack or ~19.49 USD/carton) while a 20ml bottle of juice is 37000 KRW (~31.36 USD).

Overall I think the situation here is fairly good, while still not well known they are legal (and recently advertisements have been seen on TV). Now we just need to get the health benefits known and the taxes down so they are inline with regular cigarettes, if not a little cheaper. If we can get the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs to see the benefits of e-cigarettes over traditional cigarettes I think it will make a large impact on the world-wide view. New Zeland has already said they are safe, now lets try and get another major player to see their benefits and set a trend for other countries to follow.

If anyone would like to help out, please let me know.

 

[CJsKee]

Hi valsacar, and welcome to ECF!

Well, this is kinda the good, the bad, and the ugly of vaping, isn't it!! My god, the difference in cost between tobacco cigs and e-cigs is astounding!!

There's lots of information here on ECF that would help you, but I suggest you start with looking at CASAA.org (a link is in my signature). They have a wealth of information on the site and they have assembled a "legislative "packet" that might be useful to you.

Good luck in your efforts! I think a change is in the air...

 

[Valsacar]

Thanks, already signed up with CASAA and plan on using their resources. The last few years Korea has been pushing hard with trying to lower the number of smokers here, if they can see e-cigarettes as what they are they should jump on board to convince more smokers to give it a try.

 

[Sinusoidal]

Juice was 30'000won a few months back. Apparently the price of cigarettes is due for a massive hike as well. E-cigs are catching on like crazy here, there are now three shops in my tiny (by Korean standards) town where you can't even get real cheese. I don't mind since my health has taken quite a turn for the better since I got off the analogs, and one bottle lasts me about as long as that much money worth of cigs would.

What Korea really needs to do to lower the number of smokers is to stop subsidizing smokes for the military. Mandatory two years of service at measly pay and cigarettes available at something like 100won (10 cents) a pack is where most get their start I'd guess.