'Emission Manipulation' Volkswagen Korea Corporation and Executives First Verdict Today

Sentencing in First Trial for Former President Park Dong-hoon and 8 Others
Charges of Sales Despite Knowing the Manipulation

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court's first ruling on Audi Volkswagen Korea Corporation and its executives regarding the 'emissions manipulation' case will be announced on the 6th. This case was triggered when Volkswagen was caught by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September 2015 for manipulating exhaust emission software. In Korea, the investigation began in January the following year when the Ministry of Environment filed a complaint with the prosecution on the same matter, leading to the trial of nine current and former executives, including the head of the Korean headquarters.

The Criminal Division 31 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Yeonhak Kim) will hold the first trial sentencing hearing in the afternoon for Audi Volkswagen Korea Corporation and nine executives, including former President Donghoon Park, who were indicted for selling vehicles with manipulated emission levels domestically. They are accused of importing and selling approximately 120,000 vehicles with manipulated emission systems from 2008 to 2015. It was revealed that former President Park and others suspected the emissions manipulation but turned a blind eye. In the previous sentencing hearing, the prosecution requested a fine of about 37.1 billion KRW for the corporation and a three-year prison sentence for former President Park.

Volkswagen, a German-headquartered automobile manufacturer, previously caused a global scandal by manipulating some diesel vehicles to reduce emissions only during certification tests. Upon this revelation, several countries including Germany, the United States, France, and Italy launched investigations simultaneously. In Korea, not only investigations but also civil lawsuits followed. In July last year, the court recognized the company's liability for damages for the first time for 79 out of about 150 plaintiffs and ordered compensation of 10% of the vehicle purchase price. In August of the same year and last month, rulings were also made ordering payment of 1 million KRW per vehicle.

Volkswagen also faced hundreds of billions of won in fines due to this incident. In December 2016, the Korea Fair Trade Commission imposed a fine of 37.9 billion KRW for false advertising. Volkswagen filed a lawsuit against this, but in October last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the fine imposition was justified.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.