Uber technology is now facing war with Seoul metropolitan government. The press reportedly had reported the rumor that Seoul will give anyone who reports a case of an unlicensed driver carrying paying customers up to 1 million won (a little more than $900). And now it is official by Seoul metropolitan government. Uber provides a car-sharing service that allows users to hail a car and pay for it from a mobile app. Taxi consortiums around the world, including some in the US, have charged Uber with operating illegally, saying in some cases that its method for handling transactions is illegal while in others charging the company with not having the required licenses. Due to the bloggers and citizens of South Korea, Uber is now providing differentiated service based on the usage record from before.
For example, if a new application user accesses the service, the menu for Uber Taxi is the only menu that is displayed. IF you have the record of Uber Black or Uber X record before, then the Uber provides full menu for the service.
Seoul has been one of the more outspoken Uber critics. Back in September, before Uber even officially launched in the city, the local government said that the service would be illegal. Seoul said that it would have law-enforcement officials pretend to be riders and arrest drivers operating through Uber.
Why does this happen? You should look at the specialized Taxi system in South Korea. There are two types of taxi in Seoul; Corporate Taxi and Private Taxi. The number of taxi has been limited and if you want to obtain private taxi, then the rebate should be paid for the legacy private taxi license owners and/or Taxi Company. The amount is reportedly known as around USD150, 000 ~ 200,000. If the Uber becomes one of the legacy services in public transportation, the market under regulation might collapse.
Like US, public transportation companies have been the source of political funds for the politicians. In 2005 some Korean politicians faced the political funds scandals with the public taxi companies. Of course, this Uber issue is not directly related with current mayor of Seoul metropolitan government.
However some citizens who are fond of Uber think that there is connection between the Taxi companies and the metropolitan government.