Incheon City Opens Online Policy Debate Forum... 'Expansion of No-Smoking Zones at Crosswalks' Vote

Collecting Citizens' Opinions on 'Debate Talk Talk' Until the 17th of Next Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City will operate an online policy discussion forum called 'Talk Talk' starting from the 19th, following its online citizen petitions.

Talk Talk is designed to gather citizens' opinions by discovering and selecting discussion topics from policies closely related to citizens' daily lives before and after their establishment, or from outstanding citizen proposals. It will be conducted through pro-and-con voting and comment discussions.

The city has selected the expansion of no-smoking zones as the first agenda item and plans to collect citizens' opinions for or against it until the 17th of next month. Any citizen who has verified their real name can participate on the online policy participation platform 'Incheon-eun Sotong-e Gadeuk'.

After gathering public opinion including the results of the pro-and-con vote, the city plans to review whether to additionally designate crosswalks as no-smoking zones.

This is not the first attempt to designate areas around crosswalks as no-smoking zones. Previously, Busan City designated crosswalks and areas within 5 meters as no-smoking zones in October last year and imposes a fine of 20,000 won for smoking violations.

The government has amended the 'National Health Promotion Act' to guarantee the right of non-smokers to avoid smoke by designating all public facilities as no-smoking zones, and local governments have designated parks, bus stops, and other areas as no-smoking zones through ordinances to prevent secondhand smoke damage.

Currently, Incheon has designated and operates 70,735 no-smoking zones including public offices, schools, medical institutions, bus stops, and urban parks.

As a result, the exposure rate to secondhand smoke indoors in public places decreased significantly from 58.0% in 2013 to 16.9% in 2018. However, according to a survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs last year, citizens still experience secondhand smoke on streets, apartment balconies, staircases, and other places.

The smoking rate among Incheon citizens has been decreasing annually from 27.0% in 2010 to 22.9% in 2018, but among Seoul Special City and six metropolitan cities, Incheon has recorded the highest smoking rate for nine consecutive years.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.