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SEOUL, Feb 13 (AFP) - Ravaged by lung cancer, Lee Joo-Il, one of South Korea's best loved comedians, has launched an anti-smoking campaign that has shaken the habits of this cigarette-loving nation.

Lee, aged 62 but with his days now numbered, appears in television advertisements from his hospital bed with oxygen tubes attached to his face, saying: "My friends, don't smoke or you may end up like me."

The sight and plight of the so-called "Comedian of Comedians", renowned for his decades of slapstick routines, has set off an unprecedented wave of anti-smoking sentiment.

Shares in the state-owned Korea Tobacco and Ginseng Corp., have been badly hit by what has become known as "the Lee Joo-Il Syndrome."

The comedian was diagnosed with lung cancer in October last year and remorsefully started speaking out against smoking almost straight away.

"Lee Joo-Il's plea seems to have moved people more than any other anti-smoking campaign," said Lee Jin-Soo, the comedian's doctor and head of the National Cancer Center.

Campaigners said more smokers have vowed to kick the habit this year than ever before.

"The anti-smoking movement is now catching on in this country. You will see a very different situation within a few years," Choi Jin-Sook, secretary general of the private Korean Association for Smoking and Health, told AFP.

According to Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data, South Korea, where 64.5 percent of all adult men are smokers, is the world's second heaviest tobacco-using nation behind Turkey with 67.6 percent.

Activists said smoking rates had been falling by about one percentage point each year over the past 14 years as publicity about the health risks spread.

"This year, the smoking rate is expected to fall by six percentage points," Maeng Kwang-Ho, a campaign leader, said in a meeting with President Kim Dae-Jung last week.

"It is a very fortunate thing for the people to become more conscious about the risks from smoking," Kim Dae-Jung said, throwing his weight behind the anti-tobacco crusade.

The Lee Joo-Il syndrome has been given major support by an increase in the tax on cigarettes. Under a new law that went into force this month, the health tax has been increased 75-fold to 150 won (11 cents).

This increase, along with other tax increases, raised the price of a pack of South Korea's best selling cigarettes up 15.4 percent to 1,500 won (1.14 dollars).

Education authorities and companies have joined the drive against cigarettes, declaring a ban on smoking at schools and company buildings.

Korea Telecom, the country's largest phone operator, has made all its properties "non-smoking buildings" and set up a "quit-smoking fund" to encourage employees to kick the habit.

The strong anti-smoking mood has shaken Korea Tobacco and Ginseng, whose shares have fallen some 25 percent in the past two months to 15,300 won.

"Cigarette sales tend to fall in the beginning of every year but rebound afterwards as smokers return to their old habit after managing to resist the urge for a few days or weeks," a company spokesman said.

But he admitted, "I think the situation is quite different this year." 

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