Yeongjong-gu District launches no-smoking campaign on apartment walkways, a blind spot for secondhand smoke

Incheon’s Yeongjong-gu District (Mayor Son Hwa-jeong) said on the 27th that it has started an on-site campaign against secondhand smoke on walkways between apartment complexes, where designating no-smoking zones alone has not been enough to control the problem. Every Thursday from Oct. 22 to Nov. 19, five sessions in total, the district is combining outreach, publicity and smoking cessation counseling on footpaths that many residents use.

[The Korean Today] No-smoking outreach on an apartment walkway © Reporter Kim Mi-hee

The campaign is taking place on the walkway between apartment complexes around 1598-10 Unnam-dong. About 10 officials from the Yeongjong-gu Public Health Center and the Facilities Management Corporation go out to the site for each session. Residents use the path every day to get to work and school and to take walks. However, it lies outside designated no-smoking zones, so enforcement and management are difficult, and it is regarded as a blind spot for no-smoking rules.

Through the campaign, the district aims to reduce secondhand smoke exposure in such spaces. It will focus on encouraging residents to quit smoking on their own rather than on penalties. The approach reflects the view that in places beyond the reach of legal regulation, residents’ understanding and voluntary participation determine how effective such efforts are.

On site, staff carry no-smoking placards, hand out no-smoking promotional materials and run a “mobile smoking cessation clinic.” At the mobile clinic, residents who want to quit can receive counseling and sign up for a smoking cessation program on the spot.

The district plans to give people who visit the mobile clinic one-on-one personalized counseling and smoking cessation aids, so that their decision to quit turns into action. What sets this campaign apart is that it goes beyond publicity and connects smokers directly with practical ways to quit.

[The Korean Today] On-site mobile smoking cessation clinic on an apartment walkway © Reporter Kim Mi-hee

“Apartment walkways are valuable everyday spaces used by many residents, including children and seniors, every day,” said Jeong Han-suk, director of the public health center. “I hope residents will actively take part in building a mature, clean smoking culture and in quitting smoking, and help create pleasant streets that all residents can use with peace of mind, free from secondhand smoke.”

Help with quitting is also available outside the campaign period. Yeongjong-gu runs a smoking cessation clinic at the public health center year-round. It also operates mobile smoking cessation clinics that visit office workers and groups who find it hard to get to the health center because of work hours or other reasons.

Residents who register with the smoking cessation clinic receive free one-on-one personalized counseling, smoking cessation aids and other support. For more information, residents can call 032-760-6088~9.

The campaign is an example of anti-smoking policy expanding beyond the management of designated zones to the routes residents actually use in daily life. Because the sessions take place on a path often used by children, seniors and other residents vulnerable to secondhand smoke, attention is on how residents’ smoking habits will change after the five on-site sessions.

[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]

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