LG Electronics, whose appliance chief has been indicted on a charge of purposely damaging Samsung Electronics Co Ltd washing machines, issued a video clip that it says shows the executive was merely testing its rival's products in plain view at a store in Germany.
The video from the incident last September was released on YouTube days after Jo Seong-jin and two other LG Electronics employees were indicted by South Korean prosecutors, escalating a bitter dispute between the cross-town peers.
In a nearly nine-minute video containing edited footage from surveillance cameras, Jo and other LG employees are seen touring a Samsung exhibit at a shop in Berlin. The officials are seen opening and closing the doors of appliances, with uniformed Samsung retail representatives sometimes looking on.
"There were many people around besides those I was on this business trip with, and Samsung workers were looking on right next to us," Jo said in an accompanying statement. "They would not have stood by had I deliberately damaged a washing machine."
Samsung said the clip released by LG zooms in on Jo when he damaged the washing machine, so viewers cannot see how Samsung retail representatives were looking elsewhere at that moment. Samsung said it will not release the original video, however, calling such a response "inappropriate".
The spat is the latest in a run of public disputes between the rivals.