LG Executives Indicted For Vandalizing Samsung Washers In Germany

cctvwasherLast year, Samsung accused employees of competing conglomerate LG of vandalizing some of its high-end laundry machines at a trade show in Berlin. Vandalizing? Yes, the group is accused of pushing down on the door of a front-loading machine to sabotage it.

The two companies have apparently been meeting in secret over the trade show incident, which happened at the IFA show in Berlin, Germany. They haven’t been able to resolve their dispute, since LG refuses to admit that its executive did anything wrong. Now the case has reached South Korean courts, with three LG employees indicted. LG counter-sued Samsung for defamation and evidence tampering, but that suit won’t go forward.

“It is doubtful if there’s any evidence that could prove that an executive of a global company would have intentionally vandalized products while employees of its rival company were watching,” the executive accused of sabotage, Jo Seong-jin, said in a statement. Jo is in charge of appliances for LG.

If you prefer to judge for yourself, footage of what LG claims is the encounter in question has been posted to YouTube: by LG, on its official corporate channel. The company claims that this is the footage turned over to the prosecution, and of course it comes with music. LG added its own commentary (in Korean) which CNET’s Cho Mu-Hyun helpfully explains.

LG posts footage of exec ‘testing’ Samsung washing machine [CNET]

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