So it is either one of the rebadged USA made mowers or a fully imported Chinese junk box.
And from what you are describing, sounds like the latter.
In any case, the cut off in on the engine end of the throttle cable so there should never ever be a spark at the handlebar end of the throttle cable.
If the spark was happening on the engine end then it is a badly connected kill wire or the throttle cable is badly adjusted.
The kill function is just grounding out the magneto coil and it will spark once or twice as contact is made.
However this should only happen when you throttle down to the stop position, not with the throttle set at 1/2 speed or higher.
Also you should always mow with the engine running full speed.
If the sparks you were seeing really were from the kill wire then every time you see a spark at the control you are not getting a spark at the plug so he was right to give you a replacement.
As they swapped it over I would guess it is the fully imported Chinese model because that is the marketing stragity with those, any one who complains get a another mower, much the same as Ryobi..
Right now, the only push mower I would buy locally are the Hondas.
Gripskies have just taken over Super Swift so it will be interesting to see what they do with them but basically now days just about everything is just a Briggs on a bowl no matter what then colour or name on them is.