North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been pictured smoking despite a national anti-smoking campaign being rolled out in the country.
The flamboyant leader is known to be an avid smoker and is often pictured with a cigarette in hand or with an ash tray close by. However, since the middle of March he hasn’t been pictured smoking, according to the Korea Herald.
A potential reason for the lack of photos of the “supreme leader” smoking was that the North Korean government launched an anti-smoking initiative in a bid to tackle the country’s problem.
However, this week, Kim himself was seen to be not adhering to the campaign himself. In a photo released by state media on 4 June, he can be seen holding a cigarette during a visit to the Mangyongdae children’s camp in the capital Pyongyang.
In 2014, the World Health Organisation reported 43 per cent of North Korean men smoked, compared to zero per cent of women. In the 1990s that figure for men was 90 per cent, while for women it was virtually zero, reports the Washington Post.
According to the Korea Herald, non-smoking research stations have been established in major cities in North Korea and the state is said to be working on more tobacco substitutes in a bid to combat the problem.
Anti-smoking messages have also been broadcast on state television showing women scolding male smokers by labelling them “imbeciles who upset their surroundings”, reports the BBC.
