[THE INVESTOR] With Volkswagen’s decision not to offer further compensation to the Korean consumers hit by the emission-rigging scandal, a local consumer rights agency is taking action on behalf of any VW owners who were hit by the carmaker’s false advertisements, local news reported on July 4.

Korea Consumer Association announced that it will begin consumer redress activities for VW owners who were deceived by the carmaker’s false advertising that promoted the cars as low-emission and environmentally friendly. The association is receiving applications from the consumers for providing alternative dispute resolution, to resolve the issue without a trial. 

“There aren’t many ways to demand compensation for the owners who cannot take part in a class action suits with a law firm. So we decided to help these car owners,” Shin Hyun-doo, the head of the association said. “We will try to get as many affected car owners as possible to negotiate with Audi Volkswagen Korea for a compensation.”

Earlier last week, the automaker decided to pay US owners of defective vehicles as much as US$10,000 per car, with the entire settlement fee totaling to US$14.7 billion. However, VW Korea reaffirmed that it has no plans to compensate Korean consumers, “because the Korean situation is different from the US.”

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)