After North Korea passed a ban on smoking in public places earlier this month, the state news agency Yonhap published an article today (11) highlighting the dangers of smoking, saying the hobby may increase the chances of contracting a new coronavirus, but the decree also raises questions about whether it also applies to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The North announced a new ban on smoking in certain public places following the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) on the 4th of this month, and the country’s media has since urged people to stop smoking, the Yonhap News Agency reported, noting in a Wednesday article that the country’s recent anti-smoking measures are in line with global trends.
The KCNA said that smoking has claimed more lives than natural disasters and traffic accidents, and that “since the new coronavirus mainly invades the respiratory tract and lungs, smokers are more likely to contract this malignant infectious disease.”
The KCNA also pointed out the dangers of secondhand smoke, saying that it kills about 1 million children worldwide each year, and mentioned that cigarette butts cause environmental problems, take up to 10 years to be decomposed, and can cause forest fires.
But the Yonhap News Agency pointed out that North Korea’s newly passed decree raises questions about whether the ban also applies to Kim Jong-un. North Korea’s official media often publish photos of Kim Jong-un holding a cigarette in a public place.
Recent Comments