KT&G said Thursday that it began changing names for four of its tobacco products, removing words that can create a false impression that cigarettes are harmless to the body.

Starting from the beginning of February, the company began changing name of “Timeless TIME Lights” to “Timeless TIME MID” and three kinds of the “Esse Soon” lineup to “Esse Soo.” “Soon” in Korean stands for “pure” or “mild” and soo means “excellent.”

Last September, the government planned to revise the National Health Promotion Law to include a ban of words that may misrepresent cigarette products. But the plan failed to be introduced into the National Assembly due to differences among government ministries.

“We are not legally bound to alter product names, but we tried to make an early move for healthier management and reduce chances of possible misconception,” a KT&G official said.

Similarly, 85 out of 175 member countries in the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control abide by protocol that includes removing misleading names or expressions in tobacco products since Feb. 27, 2005.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)