 The high rate of smoking in South Korea is possibly due to it being a capitalist society, where marketing is prevalent and consumption is uncontrolled.However, much of the current information regarding the smoking habits of North Koreans is obtained by studying North Korean defectors who now live in South Korea and may not be totally representative of the true picture.One study of defectors found that smoking is even more common than anticipated, but nicotine dependence was not as severe as predicted.