What the case was about:

Korea’s National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) sued major tobacco companies seeking about KRW 53.3 billion (₩533억) in damages.

NHIS argued the companies should reimburse medical costs paid for 3,465 lung and laryngeal cancer patients who had smoked for 30+ years.


Who the defendants were:

KT&G, Philip Morris Korea, and BAT Korea.


The appellate ruling

On January 15, 2026, the Seoul High Court (Civil Division 6-1) ruled against NHIS, confirming the earlier trial court result.

In short: NHIS lost in both the first and second trials.


Why NHIS lost (core legal reason)

The key issue was individual causation: whether the court could say smoking caused cancer in each specific patient.

The court said statistical/epidemiological correlation isn’t enough to presume causation for an individual person.

It emphasized that other risk factors must be assessed case-by-case, such as:

– smoking history details,

– lifestyle habits,

– family history,

– and other potential contributing causes.



Product liability arguments also failed

NHIS also tried to argue tobacco product liability (e.g., design defect and failure-to-warn style claims).

The court was not persuaded, noting that the harms and addictiveness of smoking have long been publicly warned about.


Industry reaction

Tobacco companies welcomed the decision, calling it consistent with courts’ long-held approach and “faithful to law and facts.”


What happens next

NHIS may still appeal to the Supreme Court, but the article suggests overturning the result could be difficult because both lower courts rejected the claims on the same reasoning: failure to prove individual causation.


Why this decision matters

It reduces (at least temporarily) the long-running legal risk for tobacco firms tied to large-scale reimbursement suits by public insurers.

It reinforces a high bar in Korean civil litigation for proving causation patient-by-patient, even when general medical consensus shows smoking is a major risk factor.

Article: https://m.edaily.co.kr/News/Read?mediaCodeNo=257&newsId=04201686645318048&utm_source=https://n.news.naver.com/article/018/0006201486?sid=101