The necessity of introducing plain packaging of tobacco products in Korea

Although the Korean government introduced a tobacco tax increase in 2015 and pictorial health warnings on tobacco packages in 2016, the smoking prevalence among Korean adult men has remained steady. More efforts and effective tobacco control policies are needed to tackle the highest smoking prevalence among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Plain or standardized packaging of tobacco products has been evaluated as an effective tobacco control policy after its introduction in Australia in 2012. The purpose of this study was to raise awareness of the need to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products in Korea. This study presents information on the following topics: what plain packaging of tobacco products is; the purposes of this policy; the reasons why we need to implement this policy in Korea; the scientific evidence regarding the effects of plain packaging of tobacco products; international developments in the plain packaging of tobacco products; and what we need to consider in order to prepare for the implementation of this policy in Korea. We propose that introducing plain packaging of tobacco products would be beneficial for reinforcing tobacco control policies in Korea and would simultaneously contribute to implementing articles 11 and 13 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Further studies must be carried out to develop a plain or standardized packaging design of tobacco products in Korea and to prevent the tobacco industry from interrupting the introduction of this policy in Korea, based on other countries' experience.