All restaurants in Busan, South Korea, to be completely smoke-free starting January 1!

▲ Busan, South Korea. (Photo / Provided by Eastern TV Travel)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

In recent years, the city of Busan has shown increasing concern over the impact of secondhand smoke on public health. The smoking ban in restaurants has been implemented in three phases: starting at the end of 2012, restaurants over 150㎡ were required to be smoke-free; in January 2014, the regulation expanded to restaurants over 100㎡; and now, as of January 1, 2015, all restaurants in Busan are required to be smoke-free, with violators subject to a 100,000 KRW fine. Smoking sections in some restaurants, which were initially permitted if separated from general seating by glass walls, have now also been completely banned.