Anchor: It has been revealed through KBS investigations that Audi Volkswagen Korea continuously fabricated documents to get the South Korean government's sales approval, even after making a public apology in the country for its emission cheating scandal. Seoul’s Ministry of Environment is again accused of failing to block the illegal attempt.
Our Kim Bum-soo reports.

Report: Last October, the management of Audio Volkswagen Korea apologized to the South Korean public for emissions cheating committed in the country.

[Sound bite: Volkswagen Korea CEO Thomas Kuehl (Oct. 8 / parliamentary investigation on transportation ministry)]
"Dear honorable congress members, ladies and gentlemen, I want to first take this opportunity to give my sincere apologies on behalf of Volkswagen for breaking the trust of our customers, the Korean people due to the diesel emission issue."

Only around two months later, VW Korea fabricated documents in order to get the South Korean government's emission certificates.

This came to light as KBS examined the Environment Ministry's notice for the revocation of certification sent to the German automaker last month.

Certified as "GMY-AD-13-2," the test results of the on-board diagnostics(OBD) device for the Volkswagen Passat with a one-point-eight TSI engine are forged. Related documents were submitted to the Environment Ministry in December, just a few months after Volkswagen's public apologies to Koreans. The ministry issued the licensing number for the model two months later.

Former officials at the Environment Ministry told KBS that Audi Volkswagen Korea never used any sophisticated technology to forge documents.

[Sound bite: A former official of the Environment Ministry (voice modulated to conceal identity / Korean)]
“They scissored papers to paste them on top of model names. They recycled the test results for other cars. It’s unimaginable. It's like elementary school students."

The former Environment Ministry official explained that the company pasted a new model name on the German government's certification for the Audi A6 to get the sale license for the Audi A7 in Korea.

[Sound bite: An official at Environment Ministry handling the licensing affairs (Korean)]
“We are aware that there was a problem in that we failed to discover the company’s fabrication, but it is difficult to spot that those documents were copied and pasted like that.”

In response to the KBS investigation, Audi Volkswagen Korea said that it did not intentionally fabricate the documents and that it was only a mistake, adding that the company is waiting for the prosecution investigation.

Amid growing accusations against the South Korean government over its loopholes in the emission licensing process, the Environment Ministry plans to announce its administrative punitive measures against the company on Tuesday.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.