Smoking violations in Seoul nearly double

The number of smoking violations in public areas in Seoul reached 431 cases this year, almost double that of last year, a city official said Thursday.

The Seoul City government has designated three public spots including Seoul Plaza as nonsmoking zones since 2011 with fines of 100,000 won ($91.60) for violators.

The number of smoking violations at bus stops also increased to 583 as of July, nearly equal to the total in all of 2012.

The cases in areas governed by district offices also rose to 11,165, exceeding the last year’s figure of 9,757. 

(rene@heraldcorp.com)