Photo courtesy of Yonhap News

 

[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] South Korea’s Supreme Court of Korea has begun formal review of a damages lawsuit filed by the National Health Insurance Service against major tobacco companies, seeking compensation of approximately KRW 50 billion.

According to the legal community on April 21, the Supreme Court assigned the case to its Civil Division 3 and initiated proceedings. The case will be overseen by Justice Noh Kyung-pil as the presiding justice.

The National Health Insurance Service filed the lawsuit in 2014 against KT&G, Philip Morris Korea, and British American Tobacco, alleging that the companies concealed the addictive nature of tobacco while manufacturing and selling cigarettes. The agency argued that such actions led to diseases including lung cancer, resulting in financial losses to the national health insurance system.

However, both the trial court and the appellate court ruled against the plaintiff. The courts found it difficult to establish a direct causal link between smoking and the development of lung cancer on an individual basis, and determined that unlawful conduct by the tobacco companies had not been sufficiently proven.

The National Health Insurance Service filed an appeal in February this year, requesting the Supreme Court to reassess issues including causality between smoking and disease, as well as product liability.

 

 

 

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