Volkswagen Korea Fined 26 Billion KRW for 'Emissions Manipulation' (Comprehensive)

Former President Park Dong-hoon Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison Along with Executives

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court's first ruling on Audi Volkswagen Korea Corporation and its executives related to the 'emissions manipulation' case was 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 nine current and former executives, including the head of the Korean headquarters, being brought to trial.

The Criminal Division 31 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Yeonhak Kim) held the first trial sentencing hearing in the afternoon for Audi Volkswagen Korea Corporation and nine executives, including former President Donghoon Park, who were indicted on charges of selling vehicles with manipulated emission levels domestically.

The court sentenced Audi Volkswagen Korea Corporation to 26 billion KRW and former President Park to two years in prison. Yoon, the director in charge of company certification, was sentenced to one year in prison, and other executives received prison sentences of four to eight months with one year of probation each. However, the court did not detain former President Park and others who received actual prison sentences.

Previously, they were indicted for 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 emission manipulation but turned a blind eye. In the last prosecution's closing argument, the prosecution requested a fine of about 37.1 billion KRW for the corporation and three years imprisonment for former President Park. Initially, the prosecution also indicted former Audi Volkswagen Korea General Manager Johannes Thamer, but after Thamer left for Germany in June 2017 and did not return, the court issued rulings first on the other defendants today.

Volkswagen, a German-headquartered automobile company, 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 simultaneous investigations. 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. Similar rulings ordering payment of 1 million KRW per vehicle were issued in August of the same year and last month.

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.