Below 30% smoking rate..."I'll help you make up your mind".

[Anchor]
The nation's smoking rate fell below 30%, but the smoking rate of women and adolescents rather rose.

It's not easy to quit smoking, so why don't you use a place to help you make that decision?

Reporter Kim Jin-doo covered it.

[Reporter]
A grandfather in his 70s who was diagnosed with rectal cancer this year and recovered through surgery and chemotherapy.

Until just before the surgery, I couldn't get my cigarette out of my hands for 50 years.

[Park So-ja / 70s rectal cancer surgery patient: I argued with my professor until the surgery, he told me to stop smoking....]

However, I have been tempted by cigarettes since my surgery and have been quitting smoking for six months.

This is thanks to the service that provides counseling for inpatients with smoking experience.

This hospital has a system that manages smokers among hospitalized patients and recommends smoking cessation.

[Yoo In-seon / In-patient Non-smoking Support Service: The person who has a history of smoking and the person who has registered are displayed in a calendar type]

Patients who lose their health and are hospitalized are more likely to recognize the risk of smoking and succeed in quitting smoking.

[Park Hye-Suk / Inpatient smoking cessation support service responsibility: Since we provide counseling for 9 times, if we continue to do so for up to 6 months, the number of areas where you can continue to quit smoking will increase....]

A total of 17 centers have been established across the country to support smokers' smoking cessation and have been active for 10 years.

The overall smoking rate also fell from over 40% in 2010 to 34% in 2020.

On the other hand, the expansion of male-dominated smoking to women and adolescents and the rapid increase in e-cigarette smoking are pointed out as new problems.

[Kim Hye-kyung / Director of Seoul Non-smoking Support Center: Actually, smoking itself is more physically damaging to women. So I'm focusing on the part that targets women.]

Tobacco not only causes respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, but also is a first-class carcinogen determined by the World Health Organization.

I'm Kim Jindu of YTN.