The South Korean government has filed a lawsuit against three cigarette makers for spreading smoking-related diseases. Its National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) is seeking at least 53.7 billion won ($51.6 million) as compensation.
According to a statement released by the NHIS, their position is being backed up by different studies relating smoking and the increase of the government's health care cost. The national agency also plans to increase the amount it has initially filed after they present the results of the studies they coordinated with international organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO).
The cigarette makers involved in the lawsuit filed in the Seoul Central District Court are KT&G Corp., Phillip Morris International Inc. (PM), and the British American Tobacco Plc (BATs). The lawsuit was filed in Seoul Central District Court.
"It's the duty of NHIS to take responsibility for people's health and to manage insurance finances," the insurer said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.
KT&G expressed that they are ready to face the lawsuit as it is nothing new to them while PM and BATs declined to comment on the issue.
The compensation amount being requested by the South Korean government was based by the health costs spent on three types of cancers related to smoking. The government spends $1.6 billion annually just for smoking-related diseases, Reuters reports.
"We believe the NHIS, as it takes responsibility for the health of the public and oversees the insurance budget, has a natural duty to bring this tobacco lawsuit," NHIS lawyer An Sun-young told reporters, as quoted by Reuters.
The chance of this lawsuit winning is uncertain. According to American LiveWire, there has been four tobacco lawsuits filed in South Korea but none of them was successful. These cases though were filed by individuals and family, and this new case is the first that a national agency went after three major tobacco companies.
