Gyeonggi Provice said it will file a damages suit against KT&G, demanding the nation's largest 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, the tobacco company has exported cigarettes to the United States that have devices extinguishing the butts two to three seconds after they are thrown away. But it has not sold such cigarettes here.

Choi said the suit will demand KT&G pay 79 billion won in damages to compensate for part of the costs to the province of operations to extinguish fires caused by cigarettes. He said the damages were calculated after the company's domestic market share of nearly 70 percent 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 percent or 19,917 cases were caused by cigarettes, causing 24 billion won of property losses.

chojh@koreatimes.co.kr