The Ministry of Government Legislation on Wednesday declared illegal the online sale of so-called electronic cigarettes designed to help users give up smoking. Since electronic cigarettes fall under the category of tobacco prescribed in the Tobacco Business Act, they can be sold only at retailers and thus their online or telesales are illegal.

Electronic cigarettes are electronic devices in the shape of a normal cigarette that allow people to inhale a gasified liquid comprising various ingredients including nicotine.

A ministry official said, “Cigarettes prescribed in the Tobacco Business Act encompass substances that can be smoked like a cigarette even if no tobacco leaf is used. Therefore, electronic cigarettes, an electronic device for intake and a filter with condensed nicotine extracted from tobacco leaf, correspond to cigarettes under the Tobacco Business Act.”

(englishnews@chosun.com )