A Multi-Disciplinary Study Into the Drivers of Smoking Cessation in South Korea

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Since 2010, several nations with impressive histories of smoking cessation have witnessed the proliferation of Alternative Nicotine Delivery Systems (ANDS). Advocates suggest that ANDS offer an effective and safer substitute for combustible tobacco. Critics worry that ANDS expose consumers to novel harms, discourage smoking cessation and even renormalize tobacco use. Different nations have adopted radically different regulatory strategies ranging from outright bans to active encouragement of ANDS-led smoking cessation. Economic, social and political factors also influence rates of smoking and ands uptake. An investigation into the national-specific context for smoking cessation; including the role of ANDS in reducing cigarette consumption, is likely to be valuable for regulators around the world hoping to reduce smoking-related morbidity and mortality in their own communities. Five case studies were conducted to review the evidence from Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and the UK, drawing on an interdisciplinary framework for investigation combining sociological, ethnographic, policy analytic and econometric disciplinary approaches into a schema for studying the drivers of smoking cessation at the individual, micro, meso and macro levels. This report presents the findings from South Korea. Data on smoking, and cessation from four decades was combined with more recent data on ANDS use, to investigate the relationship between tobacco control policies, ANDS use and smoking cessation, as well as other salient aspects of the national tobacco control landscape. Specific recommendations are presented for policy makers and the research agenda.