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Health minister advocates for stricter regulations on synthetic nicotine products

Published: 31 Jul. 2025, 13:39 Updated: 30 Mar. 2026, 09:23

A vending machine selling liquid e-cigarettes [YONHAP]

Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Jeong Eun-Kyeong called for tougher regulations on synthetic nicotine e-cigarettes, warning that the products are fueling a rise in teenage smoking and escaping oversight under outdated tobacco laws.

“Liquid e-cigarettes with synthetic nicotine are just as harmful to health as combustible cigarettes and therefore require the same level of regulation,” Jeong said in a written response submitted to the National Assembly following her confirmation hearing on July 18, according to the assembly on Thursday.

Under the current Tobacco Business Act, "tobacco" is defined as products that use tobacco leaves in whole or in part. Cigarette products falling under this category are subject to oversight regarding manufacturing, distribution and sales, as well as health warnings, restrictions on flavor additives and advertising regulations.

However, liquid e-cigarettes, which are mostly made with synthetic nicotine, fall outside this legal definition and exist in a regulatory blind spot.

“To ensure that liquid e-cigarettes are subject to the same regulatory standards, we will continue to support revising the Tobacco Business Act so that the definition of tobacco includes not just tobacco leaves, but nicotine itself,” Jeong said.

A total of 10 proposed amendments to the Tobacco Business Act are currently pending review in the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

A recent report by the National Assembly Research Service also recommended expanding the legal definition of tobacco to include nicotine-based products and banning online sales to curb youth usage of e-cigarettes.

Data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s Youth Health Panel Survey from 2019 to 2024 shows that the higher the grade level, the more likely students are to have tried smoking.

Among male students, the usage rates of cigarette products between the first year and second year of high school rose from 2.12 percent to 5.50 percent for combustible cigarettes, 1.19 percent to 3.57 percent for liquid e-cigarettes and 0.65 percent to 1.67 percent for heated tobacco products.

During the same period, usage rates among female students also increased, from 1.19 percent to 1.33 percent for combustible cigarettes, 0.94 percent to 1.54 percent for liquid e-cigarettes and 0.24 percent to 0.32 percent for heated tobacco products. Notably, the usage rate of liquid e-cigarettes among female students surpassed that of combustible cigarettes for the first time.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM JI-HYE [[email protected]]