A group of South Korean officials and senior executives of local washing machine manufacturers departed for Washington D.C. on Wednesday to attend a hearing on the need for safeguards to protect US companies.

The US International Trade Commission hearing will be held in the US capital Thursday at the request of Whirlpool Corp. This is part of the ITC safeguard probe of foreign washers, mostly made by South Korean companies.

The official 120-day probe to determine whether the South Korean washing machines hurt US companies began June 5 and could be extended for another 30 days.

The officials of the ministries of foreign affairs and trade, industry and energy, and executives of Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. will likely be joined by representatives of the state governments of South Carolina and Tennessee and consumer groups there.

Samsung and LG plan to build facilities in the two US states for the production of washers.

The South Korean side is expected to insist that South Korean washing machines have not seriously affected the US washer industry and that American consumers will be the worst hit by any additional punitive tariffs.

The Seoul side will also note that about 200,000 US workers lost their jobs after the Bush administration imposed anti-dumping tariffs on steel imports.

The ITC is expected to make its decision in regards to punitive duties Nov. 21, before presenting a report to US President Donald Trump by Dec. 4.

South Korean officials have said they will consider bringing the case to the World Trade Organization if safeguard measures are taken.

"We will stress that any decision by the US government to take safeguard action will adversely affect workers at the plants to be built by Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. in the US, restrict the right of US consumers to choose washers and undermine innovation efforts by US electronics firms," an official said.

Whirlpool claims Samsung and LG have relocated production facilities to Vietnam and Thailand, respectively, to circumvent anti-dumping tariffs imposed by the US government on their washers made in Mexico and China.

It has asked the ITC to levy anti-dumping tariffs on the imported washers.

Samsung USA has contested the Whirlpool accusations, saying the petition filed by the US washer manufacturer will incur serious damage to consumers who purchase Samsung washers for their "design and innovation."

LG Electronics has also said in a statement, "In light of their apparent inability to compete with leading global brands like LG in the US market, Whirlpool has decided to seek government restrictions to limit consumer choices." (Yonhap)