Tobacco.org

Philip Morris to raise tobacco prices by 6.8% 

Beginning Feb. 10, signature cigarette brands Parliament and Marlboro of Philip Morris International (PMI) Korea, will sell at 2,700 won a pack, up by 200 won, while the price of Virginia Slim will go up by 100 won to 2,900 won.

The price hike of 6.8 percent on average follows similar increases by competitors in the domestic market.

``PMI Korea has not increased the prices of its products since 2002. Unavoidably, the company faces pressure to do so as payrolls and costs of raw materials have jumped over the past decade,’’ a Seoul analyst said.

``Now all eyes are on KT&G on whether or not the market leader will do the same as its other two rivals, British American Tobacco (BAT) Korea and JT International (JTI) Korea, have already raised their prices.’’

Jump to full article »

Cigars, cognac and mass starvation: 10 facts that divide North Korea from the world 

Kim Jong Il had a taste for cigars, cognac and gourmet cuisine, while four in five of North Korean children suffer from malnutrition because food is poorly distributed.

Jump to full article »

Kim Jong Il dead: North Korean dictator's life in pictures 

North Korea dictator Kim Jong Il has died aged 69 after suffering heart failure.

The "Dear Leader", as he was known, suffered a heart attack on board a train on Saturday December 17 after what has been described as "great mental and physical strain" during a "high intensity field inspection". . . .

He also banned cigarettes across the whole country after being told he had to quit smoking in 2007 . . .

Jump to full article »

• Stress, risk factors may have caused death 

The official Korean Central News Agency announced Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died Saturday of a heart attack.

He was also reported to have suffered from several mental and physical problems.

The deceased "Dear Leader" is believed to have suffered from various diseases throughout his life, while speculation about his ill health and even possible death have lingered for more than five years.

In 2007, he was absent from public view for more than 100 days. Sources claimed that he had received heart surgery in May that year. . . .

In August this year, Kim looked much healthier after gaining some weight. In 120 pictures released by the North, Kim was spotted smoking. . . .

Kim was also a heavy smoker and had a taste for cigars, sources said.

All such conditions are well-known risk factors for heart disorders, said Ahn Chul-woo of Gangnam Severance Hospital.

Jump to full article »

• N.Korea Turns to Making Money from Overseas Missions 

Cash-strapped North Korea is leasing out parts of its overseas missions buildings to earn hard currency. . . .

A South Korean security official said, "Staffers of North Korean overseas missions are using their embassy buildings to make money because of a global crackdown on the North's drug trade and tobacco smuggling." . . .

North Korean diplomats in Latin America earn hard currency by buying Cuban cigars at duty-free prices from Cuban distributors and reselling them to traders in the countries they are assigned to.

Some Latin American nations have stepped up searches of North Korean cargo, and one airline has banned North Koreans, the official said.

Jump to full article »

• N. Korea apparently struggling to lower smoking rate  

At least a decade has passed since North Korea's official media began urging its people to quit smoking ahead of 2012, the year it aims to become a "great, prosperous and powerful nation," but recent reports suggest the smoking rate among North Koreans remains high.

In a report marking World No Tobacco Day, which falls on May 31, Pyongyang's official Korean Central Television said Tuesday the government is "taking practical measures to promote the health benefits of giving up smoking." It did not mention the government's stated aim of lowering the smoking rate to 30 percent by 2010, indicating that goal may not have been met.

In 2006, the smoking rate among North Korean men was 56 percent, trailing behind only China and Laos among Asian nations, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

By 2008, 54.7 percent of the population smoked, according to North Korean media reports. Given that smoking among women is nearly taboo in North Korea, the figure suggests that more than half of the country's adult males were smokers.

Jump to full article »

• N.Korea hails no-tobacco day amid military tensions 

North Korea, facing international censure for its nuclear weapons programme and a deadly attack on a South Korean warship, on Monday staged a special event to warn about the dangers of smoking.

Speakers at a Pyongyang event marking World No-Tobacco Day stressed the increasing social concern over the practice, the official news agency reported.

The agency, in a separate report, noted that a non-smoking campaign has intensified, with smoking banned in theatres, cinemas, schools, hospitals, sidewalks and other public places.

Violators in the hardline state "are exposed to legal sanctions," it said without elaborating. . . .

The country's best-known convert is leader Kim Jong-Il, a former heavy smoker who was reportedly advised by his doctors in 2007 to quit because of heart problems. A smoking ban was imposed at all the venues he visits.

An official photo taken in 2009 during a visit to a cigarette factory showed the leader with a cigarette in his mouth

Jump to full article »

Kim Jong-il 'Suffers Depression' 

Pavel Ovsyannikov, the principal conductor of the 21st Century Orchestra of Moscow, visited Pyongyang in September to give a performance and later told a Japanese newspaper Kim smoked Marlboro cigarettes and "had a strong grip" when he shook his hand. . . .

But Ha claimed depression often leads to like excessive drinking and smoking. "It's true that he appears as if he has recovered his health, but in fact, his health is deteriorating

Jump to full article »

• N Korea draws on tobacco to generate hard cash 

A North Korea desperate for foreign exchange has been generating hard currency by re-exporting British cigarettes, despite renewed efforts by the international community to apply tougher sanctions on the impoverished state.

North Korean and other Asian trading entities started re-exporting State Express 555 cigarettes, manufactured by British American Tobacco, in February last year, just months before North Korea's second nuclear test in four years prompted the United Nations to impose tougher sanctions on Pyongyang. . . .

The US, Japan, Australia and Canada banned a broad range of tobacco products. Meanwhile, the European Union and Singapore sanctioned only cigars, which allowed BAT to continue exporting NK 555 cigarettes to North Korea. BAT said it halted exports of the cigarettes from Singapore to North Korea after discovering a diverted cargo of NK 555s in August.

International tobacco companies frown on "grey market" or "parallel" exports of their products to markets for which they were not intended. But national customs authorities target counterfeits rather than so-called "diverted real product".

The diversions offer a rare glimpse into how the impoverished country can secure foreign exchange - especially as the noose tightens on arms exports.

Jump to full article »

Around the world: Leader's health issues require frequent rests 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is suffering from chronic laryngitis — probably because of excessive smoking and drinking — and he can't work without resting every other day, a news report said Wednesday.

The disease worsened last month, though the 67-year-old leader has recovered much from last year's reported stroke and a kidney disease, said the Seoul-based Open Radio for North Korea

Jump to full article »

• Diplomat and wife jailed for smuggling cigarettes 

A North Korean diplomat and his wife have been sentenced to eight months in prison by a court in Stockholm for attempting to smuggle more than 230,000 cigarettes into Sweden.

The man and the woman arrived in Sweden from Finland by ferry on November 18th.

When customs officials inspected their Russia-registered car they discovered the massive stash of cigarettes hidden under blankets and sheets in the back seat and trunk of the car.

At the time of the seizure the man, who is stationed at the North Korean trade mission in St. Petersburg, Russia, claimed that both he and his wife had diplomatic immunity and therefore couldn't be held accountable for the alleged smuggling.

But the Stockholm District Court ruled that since neither of the two were accredited in Sweden, the Vienna conventions governing diplomatic relations didn't apply.

Jump to full article »

N.Korean diplomats caught smuggling, expelled from Sweden 

A presumed cigarette smuggling scheme was nipped in the bud by Swedish police earlier this week. Two North Korean diplomats were arrested Wednesday with a large quantity of cigarettes.

The diplomats claimed immunity, but Swedish police arrested the pair on "suspicion of smuggling 230,000 cigarettes." The couple, a man and woman, are accredited diplomats in Russia for North Korea. Police caught the diplomats out in Sweden Thursday and was able to arrest them because the diplomatic immunity that automatically is granted to political representatives was for Russian, not Sweden.

Jump to full article »

• Diplomats arrested for cigarette smuggling 

Swedish police have arrested two North Korean diplomats on suspicion of smuggling 230,000 cigarettes into the Nordic country, the Swedish Customs Office said Friday.

The pair, a man and a woman who have diplomatic status in Russia, were stopped by Swedish customs officers Wednesday morning as they drove off a ferry from Helsinki, the Finnish capital.

Customs officials discovered Russian cigarettes in the car driven by the couple, Swedish Customs spokeswoman Monica Magnusson told Reuters.

The two North Koreans claimed diplomatic immunity.

"They were accredited as diplomats in Russia, but had no accreditation in Sweden," she said. "They were arrested on suspicion of smuggling."

Jump to full article »

N. Korea’s Leader May Have Cancer, Report Says 

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who suffered a stroke last August, was also found to have "life-threatening" pancreatic cancer around the same time, a South Korean cable television network reported on Monday.

. . .

Doctors say that a person with chronic diabetes, a smoking habit and obesity is more likely to get pancreatic cancer. Mr. Kim before his reported stroke fits the description. The Seoul government has long suspected Mr. Kim of having diabetes.

Jump to full article »

Photo shows Kim Jong Il with cigarette  

A photograph of Kim Jong Il released Wednesday by the North Korean government shows him doing something he has supposedly given up -- smoking.

The shot shows the 67-year-old on a tour of a cigarette-manufacturing plant, Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reports. Kim has removed one glove, freeing his hand to take a cigarette.

The secretive North Korean leader is supposed to have obeyed his doctors' orders and given up cigarettes several years ago.

Jump to full article »