A Seoul court has imposed 15 million won (14,136) in fines on a 28-year-old man for spreading a false rumor that the battery of a smartphone made by the country’s major handset maker exploded, court officials said Monday.

The defendant, only identified by his surname Kim, was indicted for defaming the local handset maker LG Electronics Inc. by repeatedly writing on the Internet in 2011 that its Optimus 3D smartphone’s battery had exploded, they said.

Kim also distributed fliers containing the false information on the street near the company’s headquarters in Yeouido, the city’s main financial district, they added.

LG Electronics immediately collected the battery to analyze the cause of the explosion and concluded that the battery cannot explode during normal usage.

The Seoul Southern District Court said in its ruling that Kim’s false rumor has damaged the reputation of LG Electronics and hurt the product’s image.

“(Kim) is not showing any remorse for his crime and has previous criminal records on fraud charges,” Judge Joo Chae-kwang said, explaining the reason for handing down the hefty fines. (Yonhap News)