AI Restoration of Late Lee Joo-il Invited on No Smoking Day: "Does Tobacco Taste Good? It's Poison"

Ministry of Health and Welfare Invites AI-Restored Late Guest to No Smoking Day Ceremony
Late Lee Joo-il, First Testimonial No Smoking Ad Model in Korea in 2002

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] "Does smoking taste good? It's poison. Citizens, you must quit smoking."

On the 31st, the late Lee Joo-il, restored by AI, was invited to the World No Tobacco Day ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

In 2002, while battling lung cancer, the late Lee appeared in Korea's first testimonial-style anti-smoking advertisement, appealing to the public to quit smoking and attracting much attention.

At that time, Lee Joo-il, who was suffering from lung cancer, appeared regretting his past smoking habit and coughing, which sparked an anti-smoking syndrome among smokers, reducing the smoking rate from the 60% range to the 50% range.

In the newly restored video, the late Lee delivers an anti-smoking message saying, "I used to smoke two packs a day. Now I truly regret it."

Testimonial-style advertisements feature smoking victims directly testifying to the harms of tobacco. In Korea, after Lee Joo-il, ads featuring a man diagnosed with oral cancer in 2016 and a man diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 2017 were released.

On this day, the Ministry of Health and Welfare also unveiled this year's first anti-smoking advertisement, the "Electronic Cigarette Edition." The ad contrasts the inner thoughts of smokers and non-smokers about e-cigarettes to show that e-cigarettes are also an unjustifiable form of tobacco.

This advertisement will be broadcast for two months from today until July 31 across various media including terrestrial TV, radio, and comprehensive programming channels.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of anti-smoking advertisements, an interactive space (interactive wall) where visitors can directly watch past representative anti-smoking videos was also set up at the ceremony venue.

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