南韓菸槍終於感受到壓力( 聯合晚報 )
發佈日期： 2012-05-25
After decades of indifference, big businesses and the government are turning up the heat on smokers in South Korea, a nation with one of the developed world’s highest male smoking rates.
南韓擁有已開發世界最高的男性吸菸比率，幾十年來漠不關心的大企業與政府，以開始對國內的菸客施壓。
Some firms are pressing workers to kick the habit or miss out on promotion and the health ministry will toughen warnings on cigarette packs.
許多企業逼迫員工必須戒菸，否則就會錯失晉升機會，衛生部也對香煙盒上的警語有更嚴厲的規定。
Seoul council plans eventually to make one fifth of the city’s total area smoke-free. Even the military is getting in on the act: army draftees undergoing basic training will get advice from a clinic on ways to quit.
首爾議會準備最終要把全市總面積的五分之一化為禁菸區，即使是軍方也開始採取行動：入伍士兵接受基本訓練時，診所將會提供他們戒菸的方法。
But successive national governments - fearful of an electoral backlash - have held back from raising the tax on cigarettes.
不過，接連幾任的中央政府因擔憂選民的反彈，一直不敢提高香菸稅。
Some 44.3 percent of South Korean men smoked in 2009, according to the latest available data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This compares to an average among all member nations of 26.5 percent for men.
根據經濟合作暨發展組織(OECD)的資料，44.3%的南韓男性抽菸，遠遠超過所有會員國男性抽菸的26.5%平均值。
