Gyeonggi provice said it will file a damages suit against KT&G, demanding the tobacco company should be held accountable for losses from fire started by cigarette butts.

“Like any other manufacturer, KT&G is obliged to remove any danger from its products. But it has neglected its duty so far,” Choi Jin-jong of the province told reporters. “It is reaping huge gains from sales of cigarettes but citizens are paying the costs to extinguish fires. It's not fair and that's why we are filing the suit.”
He said that since 2005, KT&G has been exporting cigarettes to the United States that have devices extinguishing the butts seconds after they are thrown away. But the company has so far not sold such cigarettes in South Korea.
Choi said the province will demand KRW 79 billion (EUR 43 million) in damages from KT&G to compensate partly for the costs of operations to extinguish fires caused by cigarettes. He said the damages were calculated after the company's domestic market share of nearly 70 per cent had been reflected.
Gyeonggi will file the suit by the end of the month, the first of its kind in Korea.
Of 176,109 fires over the last five years nationwide, 11.3 per cent or 19,917 cases were caused by cigarettes, causing KRW 24 billion of property losses. (sra)