NHIS Appeals to Supreme Court After Losing Damages Lawsuit Against Tobacco Firms

"Supreme Court Ruling Needed on Corporate Social Responsibility"

The National Health Insurance Service has filed an appeal after losing its damages lawsuit against tobacco companies.

On the 15th of last month at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Jung Kiseok, President of the National Health Insurance Service, speaks about losing on appeal in the large-scale damages lawsuit he filed against major tobacco companies. Photo provided by Yonhap News.

On February 4, the National Health Insurance Service announced that it had submitted a petition of appeal to the Supreme Court in connection with this lawsuit, in order to hold cigarette manufacturers accountable for health damage caused by smoking.

Previously, in 2014, the service filed a damages lawsuit of about 53.3 billion won against KT&G, Philip Morris Korea, and BAT Korea, arguing that the tobacco companies should compensate the medical expenses it had paid to subscribers who were diagnosed with lung cancer and other diseases after long-term smoking. However, both the court of first instance and the appellate court dismissed the service's claims, declining to recognize the liability of the tobacco companies.

Regarding the reason for the appeal, the National Health Insurance Service explained that it is necessary to obtain a fresh ruling from the Supreme Court on key issues, including the determination of causality between smoking and disease, the product liability and tort liability of cigarette manufacturers, and the cost-bearing structure of public insurers.

The service pointed out that the appellate judgment is based on the premise that, as early as the 1960s and 1970s, the harmfulness and addictiveness of cigarettes were already widely known throughout society. However, it argues that, when comprehensively considering the level of access to scientific information at that time, the practices of tobacco companies in concealing or downplaying information on harmful effects, and the degree of regulation at the national level in that era, such a conclusion does not accord with objective facts.

The service also argued that, as the entities that manufactured and sold harmful substances, tobacco companies must bear corresponding legal responsibility, and that this point should be clearly addressed in the final appeal. It further stressed that, since the causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer has been sufficiently demonstrated by numerous studies, the legal assessment of this relationship must likewise be clarified.

The National Health Insurance Service also identified as a key issue the fact that tobacco companies were aware of the harmfulness and addictiveness of cigarettes but did not adequately disclose this.

Jung Kiseok, President of the National Health Insurance Service, said, "This appeal is not merely about winning or losing, but about asking how society perceives health damage caused by smoking and how responsibility should be allocated," adding, "We hope the Supreme Court will render a responsible judgment through open and transparent deliberation."