Source: Korea Times (kr)
Date: 2010-07-07
Author: Bae Ji-sook,

The rate of male smokers here has fallen over the past six
months, but still remains far above any other OECD member state,
the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday.

According to a Ministry of Health and Welfare survey of 3,000
adult males and females nationwide in June, the smoking rate for
males was 42.6 percent, about a 0.5 percentage point fall from
last December.

The decrease is the first in two years after it peaked at 43.1
percent last December.

Still, it is very high, possibly the highest, among OECD member
states, the researchers said, as their average was 28.4 percent
in 2007.