North Korea
The leader of North Korea was left red-faced this week while out on an anti-smoking drive – after he was snapped with a cigarette in his hand.
Kim Jong-un was seen flouting the government’s advice in a picture published by state news agency KCNA. The country’s “supreme leader” was visiting the remodeled Mangyongdae Children’s Camp in the capital Pyongyang when he was seen lighting up, the first time in public since March 15, when Kim was seen puffing while attending a test of a home-grown North Korean rocket motor.
The country is in the midst of a campaign to stamp out smoking, as KCNA announced in May that state-sanctioned cigarette makers were required to put health warning notices on packaging.
They have also stated that non-smoking research stations are being established in provincial capitals.
The country has seen the broadcast of a 40-minute documentary entitled The Extra Quality Favorite Item Threatening Life in order to quash the mainly male habit – in which women scolded male smokers, calling them “imbeciles who upset their surroundings”, according to the BBC. But it seems Kim’s missed out on the message.