SKorean lawyer wages privacy fight against Apple (AP)

FILE – In this Nov. 28, 2009 file photo, iPhone fans line up as they wait for the Apple iPhone 3G during the launch ceremony in Seoul to purchase. A Sou

SEOUL, South Korea – A South Korean lawyer who is an avid user of the iPhone is leading a battle against the privacy of Apple Inc. in the device tracking capabilities.

Kim Hyeong-Seok said Friday that at least 16,000 people in South Korea have put him in a class action lawsuit against the company he wants to act with a Seoul court in early August.

The 36-year-old international trade and business lawyer is sentenced to the Korean unit of Apple, the ₩ million ($ 945) an action that he took to a regional South Korean court to gain in April.

His complaint was that the monitoring of iPhone users' sites violates the constitutional right to privacy in South Korea and let them "mental distress."

That has not stopped, continue to use it to your iPhone and iPad 4.

"I like Apple," Kim said in a telephone interview from his office in the city of Changwon, which is about 240 miles (380 kilometers) southeast of Seoul.

In fact, Kim says he is concerned "the mania of Apple."

But he adds his legal battle is "right or wrong."

Apple spokesman Steve Park in Seoul could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kim said he plans to file a lawsuit in Seoul, will be sometime in the first three days of August and its objectives both in Korea and Apple, Cupertino, Calif. Apple Inc.

The suit will seek ₩ 1,000,000 in damages for each participant, he said.

Kim's conflict as the iPhone has shaken up the South Korean mobile phone market since it went on sale in November 2009.

The phone has led to a smartphone war and encouraged local companies Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. to improve his game. Samsung has challenged the iPhone with the Galaxy line of Android-based smartphones, while LG has pushed his Optimus line.

Kim started her legal battle in April after reading that the iPhone is data that could be used to track the movements of users to store.

He filed a lawsuit in the local Changwon District Court for the damage.

Kim said the judge in his favor in May and awarded him damages he sought. The Company does not contest the ruling and Apple South Korea paid the money on June 27, Kim said.

A spokesman for Changwon District Court upheld the decision and payment.

Kim said he believes that the payment was the first Apple has done around the world in terms of the issue of persecution that occurred in April. South Korean agency Yonhap News reported the first time in South Korea.

Apple iPhones-known one that was store locations near the mobile towers and Wi-Fi hot spots for up to one year. These data can be used to provide a rough map of the unit owners to generate movement.

Apple is also facing another legal challenge in South Korea.

A total of 29 iPhone users filed a class action to the outlet end of follow-up of April, Yonhap news agency reported.

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Associated Press writers May Cho contributed to this report.