Samsung seeks prosecution probe on LG executive on suspected vandalism

Samsung Electronics said Sunday it has asked the prosecution to investigate senior officials of its home rival, LG Electronics, on suspicion of intentionally damaging its products at a shopping mall in Germany.

Samsung's petition names Jo Seong-jin, head of LG's home appliance division, and a number of other senior company officials, accusing them of vandalizing its laundry machines on display.

The incident occurred earlier this month in Berlin just ahead of the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) trade show where the two South Korean tech giants competed for the spotlight in consumer electronics. LG officials were questioned by German police after an employee at SATURN Berlin Europa-Center reported them, saying he saw them damaging the appliances, pressing down on the doors until they wouldn't close properly.

The case was initially reported closed after LG officials agreed to buy all of the damaged products.

Samsung said it confirmed through CCTV footage that Jo and others had also broken other Samsung products at SATURN Berlin Steglitz, another branch of the German electronics shop, in the same way.

LG denied the accusations and said the implicated officials were only checking the appliances of rival firms.

Samsung said that it had waited until all related officials returned to Korea to seek an investigation instead of pursuing the case overseas, considering the controversy the incident can cause.

"We concluded that we had no choice but to ask for the judiciary to make a judgment to confirm the actual facts," a Samsung official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We need to find out the truth to establish the fair rules of corporate competition."

The two tech leaders, who compete in products ranging from smartphones to refrigerators and personal computers, have gone to court against each other before.

They fought in 2012 over who had the bigger capacity refrigerator, the bigger market share for air conditioners and patent rights for display products. (Yonhap)