(H/T to the Marmot) According to the AFP:
Speakers at a Pyongyang event marking World No-Tobacco Day stressed the increasing social concern over the practice, the official news agency reported.
The agency, in a separate report, noted that a non-smoking campaign has intensified, with smoking banned in theatres, cinemas, schools, hospitals, sidewalks and other public places.
Violators in the hardline state “are exposed to legal sanctions,” it said without elaborating.
The country’s best-known convert is leader Kim Jong-Il, a former heavy smoker who was reportedly advised by his doctors in 2007 to quit because of heart problems. A smoking ban was imposed at all the venues he visits.
An official photo taken in 2009 during a visit to a cigarette factory showed the leader with a cigarette in his mouth, but it was unclear whether he had lapsed or was posing for the camera.
South Korea and other states accuse the North of killing 46 young sailors with a torpedo attack on a South Korean warship in March. It denies responsibility.
See the photo of Kim Jong-il smoking at the Marmot.
Read the full story here:
N.Korea hails no-tobacco day amid military tensions
AFP
5/31/2010
