“Cigarette Smoke in Smoking Booths Hated Even by Smokers”… Two Local Governments Tackle the 'Neogurigul' Issue

Open or Enclosed?
The 'Advanced' Smoking Booth Competition Between Seocho-gu and Seongdong-gu
"Preventing Secondhand Smoke and Protecting Smokers' Health"

"Open-type is the trend, and it also meets the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Seoul City." (Seocho-gu)

"It is not cold in winter and not hot in summer. It does not harm non-smokers, and the smoking scene is not conspicuous, which is good." (Seongdong-gu)

Seoul district offices are competing to upgrade smoking booths with advanced technology. Seocho-gu and Seongdong-gu have taken the lead, with the common goal of preventing secondhand smoke harm to non-smokers and protecting smokers' health.

Seongdong-gu, which first piloted the 'Seongdong-type Smart Smoking Booth' equipped with a sealed negative pressure facility in November 2022, installed a smoking booth in front of the SM Entertainment building in Seongsu-dong 1-ga about a year later. The response was positive, with smoking-related complaints noticeably decreasing by dozens each month. Smoking booths installed in other areas were either sealed 'raccoon dens' without proper ventilation facilities or mostly natural ventilation types with only partial openings at the top.

The smart smoking booth prevents cigarette smoke from leaking out even when the door is open, and it is equipped with an air purification system that continuously circulates the internal air. The interior is specially coated to prevent nicotine or tar from sticking, and it includes an ashtray that automatically crushes cigarette butts, internal closed-circuit (CC) TV, and an emergency bell.

This month, Seongdong-gu installed the ‘Smoking Booth Season 2,’ which added features to make users less visible to passersby. By the end of this year, the number of smart smoking booths will increase to 14. A Seongdong-gu official said, "Currently, the average daily number of users is 1,200 to 1,500, and the maximum daily number of users at Wangsimni Station Exit 6, which has a large floating population, reaches 2,700," adding, "Complaints, which used to be in the hundreds, have also significantly decreased."

While Seongdong-gu uses a closed-type smoking booth, Seocho-gu chose an open-type. The ‘Seocho Open-type Ventilated Smoking Facility’ combines the advantages of closed-type smoking booths and natural ventilation open-type smoking booths while compensating for their disadvantages. Seocho-gu stated, "According to the World Health Organization Convention, when installing outdoor smoking facilities, it is recommended that more than 50% of the total five sides, including four walls and the roof, be designed as open-type," and added, "Although it is open-type, cigarette smoke and odors exposed to the outside are minimized."

Air curtains are installed on three sides to prevent cigarette smoke from escaping outside, and four ventilation purification devices are mounted on the roof to purify and then discharge cigarette smoke. Seocho-gu installed this smoking facility on a side street near Gangnam Station. They plan to operate a total of five locations within the year. Twelve ashtrays with automatic fire extinguishing functions were installed on three pillars. The maximum simultaneous capacity is about 20 people.

Seocho-gu plans to install the ‘Seocho No-Smoking (Smoking) Zone QR Guide Board’ near the smoking facilities to inform about outdoor no-smoking and smoking zones, as well as an automatic voice guidance system to induce smoking inside the facility and reduce unauthorized cigarette butt littering.