http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/01/202_29816.html

The article has a statement at the end, however. Cigarette “sales” are up. Their conclusion is those who smoke are smoking more. I guess if you want to interpret the result that way you can since it falls in line with the published claims which I am doubting and no one else is refuting. I personally smell smoke in no smoking areas and reach an entirely differnt conclusion.

It’s a very good point that the scooters and small motor cycles add to the pollution problem and that smoking certainly doesn’t help. Far more people smoke in South Korea than in, say, California. Fortunately, the number of smokers is going down among men (see this link). Unfortunately, it’s rising among women.

I have biked along the Han River Bike route and the Anyang Cheon and Tan Cheon (going to Bundang) and the path that goes to Uijeonbu. I’ve seen these Ninja’s. They are on expensive bikes dressed in fancy bike clothing chain smoking at their breaks. If I were to look at a pollution problem in Korea I would look at the primary and secondary tobacco exposure. You can’t live in Korea and not be a second hand smoker if you walk on the street in a congested area. Smoking on the train platforms right in front of the no smoking signs is accepted since no one tells the smoker to put out the cigarette. They have a cigarette in one hand and a three year old in the other. I think I even saw a news article where they lie about the reduction in the number of smokers to make the country look good.

Yellow dust from China is also a major air health concern during certain times of the year.

\r\nTheir cycling outfit looks like something straight out of a ninja movie. Just as i…