Costco Wholesale Korea, an affiliate of U.S. retail giant Costco Wholesale Corp., has filed a lawsuit against three of Seoul's autonomous districts, claiming that their ordinance for mandatory Sunday closure and restrictions on operating hours are invalid, judicial officials said Monday.

In the lawsuit filed with the Seoul Administrative Court against heads of Seocho-gu, Jungnang-gu and Yeongdeungpo-gu, Costco said that it has been ordered to close on the second and fourth Sundays of every month and banned from opening stores from midnight to 8 a.m. due to an illegal ordinance that runs counter to the retail industry development law.

Costco noted that about 130 rulings by local courts nationwide have also confirmed the illegality of similar ordinances.

The legal action came after the U.S. retailer repeatedly opened its stores on Sundays in defiance of the Seoul ordinance.

In a bid to protect traditional marketplaces, Seoul's autonomous district councils imposed the Sunday closing rule on large discount chains in April. The chain stores responded with a lawsuit and in June a Seoul court ruled against the councils'

Sunday closure order. As Costco was not a party to the lawsuit, however, the councils argued that it could not benefit from the ruling. (Yonhap News)