Provincial gov't sues KT&G for cigarette fires

SUWON, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- Provincial authorities filed a lawsuit against KT&G Corp., South Korea's leading tobacco company, for compensation from cigarette-related fires they say could have prevented had the company sold a safer product it reserves for exports.

In an unprecedented case, Gyeonggi Province is demanding 1 billion won
(US$738,000) from KT&G for fires that broke out between 2005 and 2007 in the suit
filed with the Suwon District Court.
Cigarette-related fires cost the province some 79.4 billion won during those two
years, the provincial government said, laying responsibility on KT&G, which only
sells its self-extinguishing cigarettes overseas.
Fire-proof cigarettes, designed to automatically extinguish within two to three
seconds after being discarded, are sold only in parts of the U.S. and Canada.
The plaintiff argues that the tobacco company violated a law requiring
manufacturers take all precautionary measures against accidental damage caused by
negligent use of their products.
"KT&G has been exporting fire-safe cigarettes since 2005, but not only has it
refused to sell those same cigarettes at home, it is making ones that burn even
better," the plaintiff said.
It estimated that fires caused by cigarettes have cost the province a total 341.7
billion won over the past 10 years. More than 10 percent of all reported fires in
the province in 2007 were caused by cigarette butts, it said.
KT&G spokesman Lee Jung-hoon refuted accusations that the company refuses to sell
the fire-safe cigarettes at home, saying their export is limited to only a few
states in the U.S. which ban sales of non-self-extinguishing cigarettes.
The company imports special paper in order to manufacture the fire-proof
cigarettes, he said.
KT&G currently exports its products to some 40 countries.