The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office has started an investigation into allegations by Samsung Electronics that LG Electronics executives damaged its washing machines at retail stores in Germany earlier this month, during the IFA show. Samsung claims that executives at LG vandalized Samsung premium washing machines at stores in Berlin, Germany. Samsung says that it has secured evidence to probe wrongdoings by LG executives, and added it has decided to bring the damaged washing machines to Korea as evidence to be submitted to the prosecutors' office.

LG's head of home appliances Jo Seong-jin is one of the executives facing the probe.

LG Electronics spokeswoman Na Joo-young said the company will fully cooperate with prosecutors over the accusations.

The dispute is the latest between the two Korean rivals, which compete across a wide range of products.