LG Executive Indicted For Washing Machine ‘Sabotage’

washing machine

Is nothing sacred anymore? Brand rivalry reaches new tipping point

The technology world is getting so competitive that it appears even innocent household appliances are no longer safe.

Shocking video footage has emerged of an LG executive blatantly vandalising a high-end Samsung washing machine at a trade show in Berlin last year.

In what will no doubt be long remembered as ‘Crystal Blue-gate’, Jo Seong-jin, head of LG’s home appliances division, is captured abusing the appliances alongside other LG employees in plain sight of uniformed Samsung personnel.

The door of the appliance, (pictured below) which sells for around £1750, comes in for particular attention, as the LG employees look to see how much punishment it can take.

samsung washing machineThe Humanity

Jo, along with two other employees, have now been indicted by local prosecutors on a charge of causing deliberate damage.

The release of the footage is the latest step in the long-running lawsuit surrounding the incident, with LG initially agreeing to pay for the damage back in September. However Samsung, citing property damage and defamation, filed a lawsuit later in the month.

LG, in turn, countersued, complaining of evidence tampering, and Jo’s lawyer Ham Yoon-keun says there is not enough evidence to warrant a conviction.

“It is questionable whether there is sufficient evidence to prove that the president of a global company deliberately destroyed the machines where employees of the competing company were present,” Ham told the Wall Street Journal.

Hilariously, LG says its employees can’t be held responsible for Samsung’s shoddy craftsmanship, telling the WSJ in December, “Unlike washing machines from other companies, a certain company’s washing machine model was particularly weak on the hinges.”

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