[CARD NEWS: Opinion] Smoking cafes: legal or illegal?

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[CARD NEWS: Opinion] Smoking cafes: legal or illegal?

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In Korea, smoking cafes are on the rise, and many smokers are enthusiastic about them. However, the trend has been facing a backlash as questions have arisen about their legality.

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1) “Smoking available at all seats”
Smoking cafes are rapidly springing up in Korea these days. People are allowed to smoke inside the cafes.

2) “I like it as I don’t need to concern others. It is also convenient that they state the cafe is legal.” - a 23-year-old woman surnamed Choi
The smoking cafes look no different from normal cafes on the outside.
More and more smokers drop by these cafes, as they can sip coffee and puff on a cigarette at the same time.

3) When you go inside the smoking cafes, however, you find people brewing their coffee on their own. These smoking cafes are self-service based.

4) “There is no legal problem at all.” - a worker from a smoking café

Their self-service system is to take advantage of a loophole of the Food Sanitation Act. According to the act, smoking is banned in common restaurants, while it isn’t in stores in which food preparation is done by the customer.

5) In other words, the smoking cafes are more like smoking areas with vending machines, rather than the cafes we commonly know.

6) “The law is planned to be revised to ban smoking in smoking cafes.”
As the controversy over the smoking cafes has grown, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is taking up a harsh measure, declaring that they will amend the law.

7) “I’m embarrassed that they even regulate against the people smoking in cafes.”
- a 24-year-old man surnamed Kim

Cafe smokers oppose the government’s action, saying that it is overstepping its bounds.

8) Also, internet users usually have shown positive opinion on the smoking cafes.

9) Their main idea is smoking in smoking cafes is better than smoking on the street.

10) Of course there are harsh opponents of smoking cafes. They say it is unfair, as existing cafes were required to build smoking areas following the law.

11) These smoking cafes, one of the few refuges for smokers, are being pushed into a corner.
Do the smoking cafes protect the right to smoke?
Or are they just cheating the law?



Directed by Lee Jeong-bong
Constructed by Kim Min-pyo
Designed by Bae Seok-yeong
Translated by Son Min-young
Edited by James Constant
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