Volkswagen has been fined W26 billion by a Korean court for rigging diesel-emissions data (US$1=W1,184).

The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday also sentenced ex-president of Volkswagen's Korean office Park Dong-hoon to two years in prison and an employee in charge of certifications was sentenced to a year behind bars.

The German carmaker's Korean office was found guilty of importing 120,000 diesel compacts from 2008 to 2015 that failed to meet emission standards here. To beat the system it installed software that made sensors detect fewer harmful particle emissions during testing for government certification here.

It rigged a total of 149 documents to perpetuate the lie of "clean diesel."

The court said Volkswagen was only interested in "maximizing profits" without consideration for abiding by Korean laws. Two other former CEOs of the Korean office, Johannes Thammer and Trevor Hill, were also indicted in the case but have left the country and are refusing to stand trial here.