SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Wednesday that it plans to file a legal suit with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the U.S. government for imposing heavy anti-dumping duties on its washing machine manufacturers.

The move follows a request from South Korean washer makers, whose shipments to the U.S. have been subject to punitive duties since January.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has been imposing an anti-dumping tariff of 9.29 percent on products by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and a 13.02 percent tariff on washers by LG Electronics Inc. since early this year.

"We are working to file the petition later this month or early next month," an official at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy here said.

The official claimed that the average prices of Korean-made washing machines are inflated in the U.S. which has led to anti-dumping duties.

Annual shipments of Korean washing machines to the U.S. range from US$800 million to $1 billion.

August 21, 2013

Source: Yonhap

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