The Republic of Korea ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on May 16, 2005. In 2005, the ITC Project partnered with researchers at the Korea National Cancer Center, Republic of Korea to create the ITC Korea Survey. Three waves of the first adult smoker cohort aged 19 and older of the ITC Korea (KR) Survey were conducted. In 2016, a second cohort of ITC Korea (KOR) Survey was established with the research teams from the Korea National Cancer Center and Seoul National University. In 2020, a third cohort of ITC Korea (KRA) was established with research teams from Korea Health Promotion Institute, Korea National Cancer Center, Seoul National University, and other leading researchers in Korea.