The bench, while acknowledging that smoking can cause lung cancer, said there was not enough evidence to show that the tobacco firm was negligent in the production, design and labeling of tobacco, or that the plaintiffs' lung and laryngeal cancers were caused by smoking. “We also acknowledge nicotine addiction, but that does not mean that the addiction is too strong for smokers with sufficient willpower to quit,” it added.

The attorney for KT&G smiles as he talks to reporters after the company won a class-action suit filed by lung cancer patients against the tobacco giant at first instance on Thursday./Yonhap

In 1999, a total of 32 plaintiffs, including a former crewman on an ocean-going ship who suffered terminal lung cancer, and their families filed a civil suit against the state and KT&G, demanding compensation of W307 million (US$1=W938) in all. They argued smoking was the sole reason for their cancer and accused KT&G of negligence by giving insufficient warning. The suit lasted more than seven years amid heated argument and counterargument between plaintiffs and defendants. Four of the seven lung cancer sufferers among the plaintiffs died in the course of proceedings.

KT&G attorney Park Ghyo-sun welcomed the court decision, describing it as “wise.” Attorney for the plaintiffs Bae Keum-ja said, "The judiciary of the Republic of Korea passed judgment in favor of business in a public-interest suit that has lasted seven long years. We cannot accept the decision and will appeal."

The courtroom was packed on Thursday afternoon, reflecting the huge public interest in the decision. More spectators stood in the hallway outside. The moment the court passed the ruling, journalists rushed out of the courtroom to inform their employers of the decision, causing chaos at the entrance. The two suits had been filed separately in September and December 1999, and took the district court as long as seven years and four months to pass judgment. That could rise to more than 10 years until any final appeal in the Supreme Court is decided.

Attorneys for KT&G (left) and a group of cancer patients give press interviews after the Seoul Central District Court found for the tobacco giant in a suit filed by the sufferers and their families on Thursday./Newsis

Despite the court’s long and agonizing deliberations, doctors slammed the court for a judgment they say goes against medical common sense and threatens public health. "Based on this court’s logic, no cancer patient who got cancer because of exposure to asbestos would be recognized as a victim of a work-related disease,” said Seo Hong-gwan, a doctor at the Smoking Clinic of the National Cancer Center. “Not all people who are exposed to asbestos get cancer. Nonetheless, the state is compensating them as the victims of asbestos because of the strong causal relationship between their disease and their exposure to asbestos." The court on Thursday acknowledged the relationship between long-term smoking and lung cancer but not the individual cause and effect.

According to the International Classification of Diseases by the WHO, tobacco is ranked with cocaine, opium and caffeine as a cause of mental and behavioral disorders. Meng Kwang-ho, a professor of preventive medicine at Catholic University’s College of Medicine and vice president of the Korean Association of Smoking and Health, said, ”Numerous surveys prove that tobacco is 85 percent responsible for lung cancer. This fact is carried in medical textbooks used around the world.” But he added other countries went through a similar process in the initial stages of tobacco lawsuits. “We will support a second and a third tobacco suit in the future,” he said.

(englishnews@chosun.com )