Uber Proposes Registration of Its Drivers in South Korea

by Rose Kim

(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc., the ride-hailing app operator facing legal challenges worldwide, proposed to register its drivers in South Korea to meet regulatory concerns that the company’s service is unsafe and competes with taxis.
Uber is “eager and actively” seeking solutions in South Korea, David Plouffe, a senior vice president at the San Francisco-based company, told reporters at the Grand Hyatt in Seoul today. Outside the hotel, about 100 taxi drivers, watched over by about 50 police officers, chanted slogans and held up banners and placards demanding Uber close its services in Korea.
“I wish I could go in to the hotel and give that Uber executive a piece of my mind,” said Kim Chul Soo, a taxi driver holding a yellow placard that read “Uber Leave Korea.”

Uber’s service lets people use their smartphone to hail rides from drivers using the system, creating new competition for longer-established taxi and limousine services. Founded in 2009 by Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, Uber has expanded to
more than 250 cities in 50 countries, roiling the transportation markets in some locations.
Uber proposes registering its drivers in South Korea under a system that grants the appropriate commercial license, Plouffe said. This means drivers will have to have undergone a specified level of training, conform to high safety standards that includes a background check for criminal record, and possess a mandatory minimum insurance coverage for both the driver and the passenger, according to Plouffe.
The company will discuss the proposal with government officials, he said. Registration of drivers has already been implemented in cities including London, New York and Los Angeles, according to an e-mail from Uber.

‘Should Be Regulated’

“Uber is a new technology, it should be regulated, it should not be banned,” said Plouffe, who was U.S. President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager.
The app operator has continued service in South Korea even after government prosecutors in December indicted Kalanick for violation of a transportation law that allows only licensed cabs to be used for taxi service. The metropolitan government in Seoul said last year that it may ban Uber’s services and similar applications.
Uber has responded by adjusting its business model, saying on Jan. 19 that it will begin directing users to a cab company in South Korea’s third-largest city Incheon to comply with local regulations.
Three days after the announcement, the country’s media regulator said that it will report Uber’s local unit to prosecutors for violation of communications rules on using location data.
Uber has avoided protests in neighboring Japan, where it has contracted with existing taxi services in Tokyo to provide registered drivers hailed through its application.