Korean Gov't Begins to Look into Volkswagen Case

Amid the worldwide spread of the Volkswagen scandal on the manipulation of gas emissions devices in its diesel vehicles, the Korean government launched a special investigation into the same model in Korea.   

“We will go to Pyeongtaek Port and seal each of the models in question, today,” said a representative of the Korean Ministry of Environment on Sept. 24. “We will check them in the form of a non-scheduled investigation.”

According to the Clean Air Conservation Act, imported vehicles have to pass certification tests by models or types when they are first introduced to Korea. Irregular and special tests were conducted on following imported cars to check whether or not they are the same as the first cars that passed the tests.

The models subject to the scrutiny are the Jetta, Audi A3, and Golf, which has been in the Korean market since July last year.  About 6,000 units of these models were sold over the past 15 months in Korea. 

On the other hand, on Sept. 19 (local time), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that Volkswagen rigged software in the emissions control devices of its diesel cars to have them work properly only when they were tested for automobile certification, and turn off when they hit real roads. This made such Volkswagen cars spew up to 40 times more NOx than what the U.S. environmental standards allowed into U.S. air.