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Tobacco plant tour highlights Philip Morris Korea's 'smoke-free future' ambitions

Published: 10 Apr. 2025, 08:00 Updated: 10 Apr. 2025, 19:04

CHO YONG-JUN
[email protected]

Pairs of heated tobacco sticks, before they are split into two individual sticks, are shown at Philip Morris Korea's Yangsan plant in South Gyeongsang [PHILIP MORRIS KOREA]

The tour of Philip Morris Korea's Yangsan manufacturing plant didn't require much explanation, as the olfactory and visual impressions told the story with the thick scent of tobacco leaves followed by an intensive mint fragrance as the leaves are turned into small heated tobacco sticks.

Philip Morris Korea’s Yangsan manufacturing plant is where the firm’s signature products — from the classic Marlboro cigarettes to heated tobacco sticks — are being made for the Korean and East Asian markets. It is also where the tobacco company’s goal of a “smoke-free future” comes to life, even if that’s not synonymous with “harmless” cigarettes.

Philip Morris claims heated tobacco will bring 'smoke-free future' to Korea

The cigarette company flew local media in for a tour of the Yangsan plant, located north of Busan in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang. The plant produces both Marlboro and Parliament cigarettes and heated tobacco sticks for the IQOS heated tobacco lineup of products. It is the only Philip Morris factory in East Asia that produces heated tobacco sticks.

Reporters wearing lab coats, safety hat and shoe covers — and without phones and cameras — were allowed to briefly look around both the factory’s primary and secondary production lines for its heated cigarette sticks.

As the reporters walked into the primary procedure plant, which was opened to reporters for the first time, the thick scent of tobacco leaves, which was reminiscent of the scent from saunas, greeted the reporters before any visual cues or introduction from its staff members began. The primary procedure processes imported tobacco leaves, in the form of large cubes, into tobacco sheets.

Sentia heated tobacco sticks are transported at Phillip Morris Korea's Yangsan plant in South Gyeongsang [PHILIP MORRIS KOREA]

Similarly, walking into the second half of the plant had a completely different scent: an extremely intense menthol smell — stronger than any mint candy — as Tuesday’s production was focused on tobacco sticks with a high menthol content for the Japanese market. The secondary procedure plant was also noisier with small conveyor belts moving cigarette sticks nonstop.

And in between the many conveyor belts were quality control measures, as defective products were automatically pushed out to the side to be discarded.

The plant also features a sophisticated lab responsible for various quality control checks.

As with the high security measures that reporters faced before entering the plant, Philip Morris remained protective about providing any detailed figures about the Yangsan plant, including the plant’s capacity and the firm’s market share.

Philip Morris Korea, however, confirmed that around a third of the tobacco products from the Yangsan plant are exported to Japan and nearby Asian markets.

“We are running the factory 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” the factory’s production manager, Leon Cha, said.

An aerial view of Philip Morris Korea's Yangsan plant in South Gyeongsang [PHILIP MORRIS KOREA]

Philip Morris, partially under pressures from around the world to reduce cigarette smoking, has been eagerly pushing its “smoke-free future” agenda with the aim to replace traditional cigarettes with heated tobacco products. With the release of its IQOS heated tobacco lineup, the company have also continued to claim that heated tobacco products are less harmful to the body, when compared to regular cigarettes.

The tobacco company, however, was honest in admitting that it is unfeasible for cigarettes to be harmless.

“You know, cigarettes have nicotine and nicotine is addictive,” Philip Morris Korea’s scientific affairs manager Kim Jae-hyun said. Kim clarified that IQOS is not “95 percent less harmful” compared to normal cigarettes but has 90 to 95 percent fewer “harmful and potentially harmful constituents,” according to research conducted by Philip Morris International.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]