According to South Korean media etoday reported on January 9, inspired by the Korean heating and non-combustion market （HNB cigarettes）led by KT&G and Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) is ready to enter the South Korean market.

According to the tobacco industry, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Korea is expected to add heated tobacco sticks to the cigarette shelves of convenience stores in South Korea in the first half of this year. The move is seen by the tobacco industry as a series of moves by JTI Korea to launch a new e-cigarette, and JTI Korea does not currently sell HNB cigarettes and stem products in the region.

Since 2022, JTI has registered more than 100 design patents related to e-cigarettes with the Korean Patent Office. The patents cover everything related to e-cigarette devices and related components, including the trademark for its new HNB product "Ploom X" sold in Japan.

Japan Tobacco International (JTI) is a Japanese tobacco company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, which operates its subsidiary JTI Korea in South Korea. While JTI launched Ploom Tech, an e-cigarette product using liquid cartridts, in South Korea in 2019, the company stopped selling it in 2021. Nevertheless, as JTI is expanding its e-cigarette business globally, the industry is generally optimistic about the prospects of JTI Korea entering the Korean e-cigarette market.

An official from JTI Korea said that plans for the release of e-cigarettes have not been determined, but they are continuing to consider multiple possibilities to enter the Korean e-cigarette market based on consumer demand and industry trends.