South Korean health insurer loses appeal against tobacco companies

The case brought by the South Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) sought to hold tobacco companies "socially accountable for the harms caused by smoking".

It also aimed to "prevent leakage in the national health insurance finances while promoting public health", the NHIS said.

The suit targeted the country's three largest tobacco firms, including giants British American Tobacco and Philip Morris Korea, and was valued at 53.3 billion won ($36.2 million).

It covers 3,465 patients who smoked for at least three decades and were diagnosed with related cancers, including lung cancer, for whom the NHIS paid out medical benefits.

Ninety percent of the patients have already died.

In the first hearing, filed in 2014, the court sided with the tobacco companies, saying the NHIS was obliged to pay medical benefits under the law even if it led to financial losses.

Proving a causal link between smoking and the patients' diseases would require additional evidence showing that other risk factors, such as lifestyle and other health conditions, were not present, it added.

In an appellate trial on Thursday, the court again ruled in favour of the tobacco companies.

President of the NHIS Jung Ki-suck told reporters that the ruling was "deeply disappointing" but said he believed "the truth will one day be recognised".

"I think tobacco companies are hit-and-run offenders. A car caused a traffic accident. Many people were injured and killed. But the driver fled the scene," he said after the verdict.

"In my view, that car driver is cigarettes, and the companies that sell them."

Smoking rates in South Korea have fallen over the past decade, with about one-fifth of the population now reporting that they smoke, according to the NHIS.