The South Korean government said Thursday it has approved German carmaker Volkswagen's recall measures for its sports utility vehicles that were found to have been sold in the country using fake emissions-related documentation.

The Ministry of Environment said the recall plan for 27,000 Tiguans submitted by the auto giant met the standards in terms of emissions and fuel efficiency.

After the carmaker's emissions scandal broke out in the United States in September 2015, the Seoul government launched an investigation. It then slapped a 14.1 billion won ($12.5 million) fine on the carmaker and ordered a recall of some 126,000 vehicles for manipulating emissions results with a so-called defeat device.

The defeat device detects when a car is being tested and changes emission levels so as to make it look as though they meet local environmental standards. (Yonhap)