Public Drinking to be Banned in South Korea

The Ministry of Health and Welfare in South Korea is moving ahead with their plan to ban the consumption of alcohol in public places like school campuses and parks. The ministry is expected to make an official announcement in March as to the future of alcohol in Korea. Many expected the announcement to be related to a rise in retail prices, but the ministry now claims that a new law would allow the prices to remain the same while still moving towards their goal of curbing the alcoholism problems in the country. Health and welfare costs for alcohol related problems have been reaching 23 trillion Korean won per year and the ministry feels it can wait no longer to address the problem. Korea’s per capita alcohol consumption was the largest in Asia at 12.3 litres in 2012 and has been steadily increasing. The new law will also ban alcohol related advertisements from subway stations, bus stops, and public billboards as well. The exact implementations of the new law will be set by local government decisions.