Two Volkswagen car owners in South Korea sued the German carmaker for deceiving them about emission results in what is the first legal action in the country following the ever-deepening emission cheating scandal, their legal representatives said Wednesday.

The two, one of whom owns a 2014 Audi Q5 2.0 TDI and the other a 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI, filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen Group, Audi Volkswagen Korea and local dealers with a district court in Seoul, according to Barun, the law firm representing the plaintiffs.

The law firm accused the carmaker and dealers of deceiving its customers and demanded the contracts that they made to buy the cars in question be annulled.

"Had it not been for the deceitful act by the accused, the plaintiffs would not have purchased the cars that do not meet emission standards for a large amount of money," the law firm said.

"Since the purchase contract has been annulled retroactively, the defendants are obliged to return the money that the customers paid for the cars," it added.

The law firm said that the carmaker and dealers duped its customers into buying their cars with the promotion that the diesel vehicles help protect the environment by producing a small amount of emissions and that their fuel efficiency is much better than gasoline engine models.

The law firm also demanded they return the profit that they earned through such an "inappropriate" method, while asking that 30 million won ($25,080) be paid in damages to each of the two owners.

The lawsuit marked the first legal action here after Volkswagen and its other brands, including Audi, were found to have faked the emission results for some of their diesel engine models in the United States.

In mid-September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that Volkswagen used software that activates emission controls only when the car is going through official testing in a bid to fake test results and pass strict emission standards.

The world's No. 1 carmaker admitted to the accusation and decided to recall about 500,000 vehicles in the U.S. alone. It also admitted that over 10 million cars sold globally might be equipped with the "defeat device."

Exact figures are not available for the amount of cars with the device in South Korea. Experts presume that the number of imported Volkswagen vehicles equipped with the cheating software might be around 146,000 units, which have been sold since 2009.

Transportation and environment authorities here said that they are launching their own investigation and tests on emissions and fuel efficiency of the car models in question.

The local unit of Volkswagen promised to do its best to clear all allegations and suspicions in a "swift, sincere and transparent" manner, and also vowed to closely cooperate with local authorities. (Yonhap)