There are 27 households (61 residents) in Sangdang village, where villagers have not smoked for the last 6 years. In the village you cannot see anyone light up while taking rest in the farm fields.
As recently as in 2000, males in the village had been smoking for 40-50 years.
Following Park Bong-geun (81) who has broken the habit of over 40 years in 1998, a few people in the village started quitting smoking, prompting an “anti-smoking craze.”
People got rid of their ash trays and set some anti-smoking rules: a 1,000 won fine for getting caught, no free cigarettes, and preventing outsiders visiting the village for weddings or funerals from lighting up.
The anti-smoking drive in the village gained momentum when a habitual smoker Mr. Jang (88) was diagnosed with larynx cancer and lost his voice after having his larynx removed.
The village has become smoking-free in January 2001 when the last holdout Park Hyun-soo (60) finally broke the habit of over 40 years.
“I quit smoking not to be an outcast. Phlegm and cough have stopped. Most of all, I feel good when I wake up in the morning.” said Park.
There are a few Korean-language articles here, here, and here.
Stolen from here.
I smoked a pack a day for ten years until I finally quit in April. Wasn't really my choice, but I was pretty sick and came down with a case of bronchitis that along with some other diseases lasted over a month. By the time I got a little better I figured that I had already gone that far without smoking so I might as well keep it up. But there's not a day that goes by where I don't spend most of the time craving a cigarette. It's embarrassing.
Believe it or not, smoking cessation is considered good for your health by some medical professionals. I guess I feel better, I don't know. Actually, with being sick plus being stressed out of my mind for the past few months, it wasn't that I was really feeling good, but that I was sayinig to myself every morning, "If I feel this shitty without smoking, imagine how I'd feel if I were going like a chimney every day after school." It's also tough to expect sick days or sympathy with a habit like that. But, it's still hard to watch Korean and Chinese movies because the characters are like smokestacks, and hopefully the more I exercise the less I'll feel like smoking.
Anyway, Sangdang is in Jakcheon-myeon, a township of about 3,000 in the northern tip of Gangjin county. I couldn't find any pictures of that village, but the Gangjin Shinmun has an interesting feature that'd be more interesting if my Korean were good. They profile a bunch of the little townships and villages around the county, and talk to the people who live there. They sometimes include pictures, too, that together with the features will give you a little idea of what really rural Jeollanam-do is like if you've never been. Actually, skimming those weekly county newspapers every once in a while is kind of fun, even if I mostly just look at the pictures.
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