A stock photo of a man smoking (123rf) Around 9.2 percent of middle and high school students in South Korea think characters who smoke are attractive, a survey showed Sunday.The survey, conducted by Studies on Korean Youth, looked at how smoking scenes on mass media affect teenage smoking.It found that 9.6 percent of teenage boys and 8.8 percent of teenage girls think that the characters who smoke on TV, movies, YouTube videos and other platforms are attractive.In terms of age, 10.8 percent of high school students and 7.9 percent of middle school students responded that smokers are attractive.The survey was conducted on 3,384 middle and high school students nationwide in August and September 2025.Researchers found a significant correlation among the three factors: frequently seeing a scene with smoking, the tendency to view characters who smoke as attractive, and having a tolerance toward smoking.Some 44.3 percent of respondents said they frequently see people smoking in the media listed.The survey also found that 12.2 percent of respondents, 13.9 percent of boys and 10.1 percent of girls, said teenage smoking should be allowed.The teenage smoking rate was found to be 4.2 percent last year, compared to 17.9 percent for adults in the same year.Researchers concluded that teens' positive attitude toward smoking could be based on both exposure to scenes with smoking and their tendency to find characters who smoke attractive."The results indicate that the depictions of smoking in the media could have symbolic meaning for teenagers, rather than describing a certain character. In movies, dramas and online video content, scenes with smoking are used to depict the charm of a character, and (smoking) is sometimes linked to a 'cool' and defiant image," the study said.The study cautioned that such depictions could be interpreted in a positive way by teens, which could affect their attitude toward smoking.