It has been 12 years since liquid type e-cigarettes were first introduced in Korea.<br />But now, the industry is facing its most uncertain period in years after the health ministry strongly warned people not to vape.<br />Our Kim Bo-kyoung reports.<br />Just one week after South Korea's health ministry issued a strong warning not to use flavored liquid-type e-cigarettes... most of the nation's convenience stores have already yanked them from their shelves.<br />The four main convenience store chains… GS25, CU, 7-ELEVEN and Emart 24,... which together account for over 90% of stores nationwide, have decided to either cancel orders for more e-cigarettes or to stop selling the products immediately.<br />The first convenience store to react to the government's warning was GS25 run by GS Retail.<br />It immediately stopped selling the flavored liquid type e-cigarettes' pods... Tropical, Delight and Crisp pods made by JUUL Labs and SiiD TUNDRA pods produced by Korean brand KT&G.<br />"According to the health ministry's warning, GS Retail decided to stop selling flavored liquid type e-cigarettes and we cleared our shelves accordingly."<br />After GS Retail's announcement, other convenience stores, supermarkets and major duty-free stores in South Korea also followed suit.<br />Both vaping product-maker JUUL Labs and Korean brand KT&G agreed with the government's concerns,... but JUUL Labs stressed it does not manufacture products with THC or vitamin E compounds… which the U.S. CDC presented as the reason behind the lung disease cases associated with the use of vaping products.<br />Thus, some say the ministry's measures were far too drastic.<br />"I believe regulating liquid type e-cigarettes because of one patient without investigating the causal relationship thoroughly is an overly hasty decision."<br />With e-cigarettes rapidly being expelled from store shelves,... some people are scratching their heads about the ministry's seemingly kneejerk decision as it still doesn't have specific grounds for e-cigarettes' harmful effects on the human body.<br />Kim Bo-kyoung, Arirang News.<br />
